Sam’s Film Room: How Rashaad Penny fits in the Seahawks’ offense

The Seattle Seahawks took Rashaad Penny with their first round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. This pick surprised many. Going into the NFL Draft, I gave Penny a late second - early third round grade. Needless to say, taking him at 27th overall was shocking to say the least.

As a prospect, Penny is a well-built, upright runner who runs hard on every snap. He typically has good vision and is one of the most “no nonsense” type of running backs in this class. He is really good at getting downhill quickly and based on my film study, his best trait is his ability to set up his blocks. He does a great job of pressing the hole before making his move.

In my opinion, even though he is a really good kickoff returner, he doesn’t have the versatility to play on third downs. His pass blocking leaves a lot to be desired. Additionally, while he was used as a receiving back on checkdowns and screen passes, I don’t think he can line up outside or in the slot just yet. He did do this occasionally with San Diego State, but I’d much rather see him master the playbook as a pure runner before moving him out there.

Overall, I really like Penny as a player, but I don’t think the positional value is there at 27 for the selection, though. In my opinion, you have to already have the skill-set of a three-down back mastered, and Penny simply isn’t ready yet. Another thing that I discussed in my video that gives me pause is that he never really dealt with deep backfield penetration of the likes that the Seahawks allow for their running backs. He was given open running lanes and that won’t be the case in Seattle. My hope is that Mike Solari and Brian Schottenheimer improve their running scheme (details here), in order to them to best utilize him in the backfield.

Similar to my other scouting report videos (found here), I am really curious to see how the readers here at FieldGulls rate Rashaad Penny as a player and the type of career you think he’ll have. Please vote below!

Discussing this pick and a few of the other Seahawks’ selections, I joined the Seahawks Podcast this week. You can follow me on Twitter @SamuelRGold and support me on Patreon.