Rashaad Penny’s about to break out? What’s that mean for Chris Carson’s Seahawks future?
Rashaad Penny is about to break out.
That’s what his play caller says.
What’s that mean through Sunday, the Seahawks’ regular-season finale against the San Francisco 49ers, and in the NFC playoffs that begin next week?
And what’s that mean for 2021 and beyond, specifically for how the team is handling Chris Carson’s expiring contract?
“The guy that I think is really going to have a breakout moment at some point is going to be Rashaad,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said this week.
“I think he’s really close.”
The Seahawks have been careful not to rush Penny back in his first two games in more than a year, following reconstructive knee surgery. He’s played just 10 snaps in those two games.
He had two carries for 6 yards in his first game back, at Washington Dec. 20.
Penny rushed three times for 9 yards Dec. 27 in Seattle’s win over the Rams that clinched the NFC West title for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks can afford to be slow with Penny. They have Carson and Carlos Hyde back healthy again for the last month, though Hyde wasn’t playing Sunday against the 49ers because of illness. Carson and Hyde missed the middle of this season with a sprained foot and strained hamstring, respectively.
Penny is the only one of those three veteran backs who is under contract with Seattle beyond this season.
“We’ve managed him the right way, in our opinion,” Schottenheimer said of Penny. “But at some point we’re going to let him go more.
“And we’re getting close to that point.”
The Seahawks want—need—to remind themselves what they have in Penny.
They have a decision to make by early May: whether to give him a fifth-year contract option for 2022 as all first-round picks in the NFL can get. Penny was Seattle’s 27th-overall choice in 2018. If the Seahawks pick up his option his 2021 and ‘22 salaries would become guaranteed with the team.
They will know by then if Carson is still the team’s number-one rusher.
Carson’s time ending?
Two months before that option decision on Penny, Carson (and Hyde, for that matter) are in line to enter free agency.
Carson’s rookie contract expires with the end of this season.
Carson wanted a new contract by now from the team that drafted him in the seventh round in 2017 out of Oklahoma State. In September, he expressed surprise and some disappointment Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, general manager John Schneider or his executive contract man, Matt Thomas, hadn’t talked to him yet about a new deal.
“I mean, of course that’s something that’s in my head, on my mind. You see a lot of guys that are starting to get paid,” Carson said Sept. 1. “You see somebody get paid, your phone blows up. Everybody’s up in you like, ‘Oh, did you see so and so got paid, blah, blah, blah.’
“Like I said, man, I just try not to focus on it.”
The upcoming playoffs could be a huge league-wide showcase for Carson’s future.
Carroll has been Carson’s biggest cheerleader since the day he drafted him. He loves his punishing style and his rugged attitude. Carson is the closest in style to Marshawn Lynch that the Seahawks have had as the soul of Carroll’s run-based offense since Lynch first left the team following the 2015 season.
But this past week Carroll indicated Carson is going to get the chance to shop the NFL market to field offers from other teams to leave Seattle.
“I think Chris is really one of us and he’s fit into the program great,” Carroll said. “What he said (in September), I think he obviously means.
“But I do know Chris has got to—he’s got to look out for himself. So he’s got see what the situation is.”
Carroll added: “But we would love for him to be with us. He’s been a terrific part of our team, and hopefully we can, you know, we can keep that going.”
Carroll said “in my mind”—which is certifiably always positive—“I can’t imagine anything else happening.
“But from the business side of it,” the coach said, “you know, he’s got a chance to see what’s going on.
“And so hopefully we’ll be able to figure it out and keep him.”
That was definitely less than a pronouncement of “Chris is a Seahawk for life, forget about it.”
What Penny brings
Schottenheimer on Thursday all but declared to opposing defenses that Penny is about to became a larger part of the Seahawks’ offense.
What does he bring that’s unique?
“Explosive speed. Just different speed,” Schottenheimer said. “I mean, all the backs are fast, but he’s explosive with his speed. Big, upright slasher. Really a good (pass) route runner, really good route runner. Most of our backs can do that.
“But I think the biggest thing right now would be fresh legs. Just coming back and not having played in the early part of the season. He’s fresh. He looks fast. And we’ve kind of been holding him back a little bit.
“But we think he’s pretty close and rarin’ for us to let him go.”
Schottenheimer hasn’t had a full-go Penny much in his three seasons as Seattle’s offensive coordinator. Penny has been injured for large chunks of all of them.
He lost much of his rookie training camp with a broken finger that required hand surgery in August 2018. He played in 14 games and had 419 yards on 85 carries with two touchdowns in 14 of 16 games that debut year.
He was as good as he’s been in the NFL last season. At age 23 he was more of a pro, in all ways. His diet. His fitness. His preparation for opponents. His depth of knowledge in the offense and his varied responsibilities, including in pass protection, as he was often Carson’s replacement in the backfield on third downs.
Penny won a game at Pittsburgh with a sharp cut-back touchdown run after he and Schottenheimer made an adjustment against the Steelers’ attacking defense at halftime.
Then in the open field at Los Angeles near where he grew up he tore knee ligaments. His second season ended after 10 games, 370 yards on 65 carries and three touchdowns. He had reconstructive knee surgery. It kept him out 12 months.
“Last year he was playing unbelievable football before he got hurt,” Schottenheimer said.
“He really matured as a player and understanding his role in different things.”
Penny returned to play for the first time in a year two games ago for Seattle, at Washington. His teammates noticed his thrill at simply being in the hotel and on a Seahawks’ road trip for a change, instead of watching the games at home on television.
“It was a blessing. Just taking advantage of being back,” Penny said.
“It was a long road. I’m just ecstatic to be here, to be back, and just be again around the team. I told the guys, I was like, ‘I was just more so happy with traveling.’
“I was just happy to be back around that feeling and just watching the game, first-hand experience instead of just watching it again on TV.”
Now, he could be in a starring role. Not just this year, but potentially as Seattle’s new lead back for 2021 and beyond.
“What I see out here on the practice field is dangerous for the league,” Schottenheimer said, “and exciting for us.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 11:54 AM.
