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The 2019 season of the Seattle Seahawks came to a screeching halt on the road against the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs when the running game couldn’t get going and the team found itself trailing by multiple scores at the half. Specifically, as injuries befell the offensive line and running backs, the team struggled at times to move the ball, forcing Russell Wilson to once again attempt to play hero in the second half.
Specifically, while the Seahawks had the fifth leading rusher in the NFL in 2019 in Chris Carson, along with 2018 first round pick Rashaad Penny, both finished the year on injured reserve. Penny suffered a devastating knee injury that will take some time to recover from, and the team has already expressed that he may be likely to start the season on the PUP list, while the team has not been as open with updates on Carson’s recovery from a hip injury.
That said, during the team’s pre-draft conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Carroll had the following to say about the recoveries of the pair.
Carroll on the health of Carson and Penny, says "seems like everything is going really well as far as we can tell.''
— bcondotta (@bcondotta) April 21, 2020
Now, not to read between the lines too much, but that’s not as strong a ringing endorsement as he often gives to players who are recovering from injury. Carroll is more often the type that gives answers along the lines of how the player is on track to be ready for camp, or at least the start of the season. That’s been seen in recent years with players like Will Dissly,
Pete Carroll said Tyler Lockett made "a big jump from last week to this week." Good chance to be at full speed by start of camp. #Seahawks
— John Boyle (@johnpboyle) June 13, 2017
Will Dissly, according to Pete Carroll is expected to be ready for camp...but to what degree his knee is near 100 is yet tbd. Patellar tendon injury is serious and he may not be fully 100% until 2020.
— Bill Alvstad ️ (@NWSeahawk) April 2, 2019
With Carroll being less exact in terms of his expectations for Penny and Carson, it’s more reminiscent of this quote from the eve of the 2016 draft.
Pete Carroll on recoveries of Jimmy Graham, Thomas Rawls: "Everything's going great." Still can't/won't commit to timeline on rtns #Seahawks
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) April 26, 2016
The 2016 draft is of note, because even though “Everything’s going great” with Thomas Rawls and Jimmy Graham in their return from serious injuries, the team spent significant draft capital at the positions:
- 3.90: RB C.J. Prosise
- 3.94: TE Nick Vannett
- 5.171: RB Alex Collins
- 7.247: RB Zac Brooks
Carroll was similarly vague last offseason with Ziggy Ansah, whose surgically repaired shoulder kept him limited enough through camp and the early part of the season that he was largely a non-factor during the year.
Carroll had no real update on Ziggy Ansah other than that they'll get through the summer and then assess where things are in camp.
— bcondotta (@bcondotta) June 11, 2019
In any case, there have been grumblings on social media about Carson potentially suffering a setback in his rehab, which is not unexpected for hip injuries. Specifically, there are certain hip fractures which can be notoriously slow to heal for a variety of reasons, but without the team ever having disclosed the specifics of Carson’s injury, this is something that would simply be blind speculation.
However, when it comes to Penny and his recovery, the team has already set the expectation that Penny would likely start training camp, if not the season, on the physically unable to perform (“PUP”) list. While many fans have been focused on the cryptic tweets of franchise-tagged Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue in recent months, Penny’s Twitter timeline could be interpreted as casting a negative outlook on his recovery, if that’s how one wished to view it.
success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts...
— Rashaad Penny (@pennyhendrixx) April 15, 2020
GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
— Rashaad Penny (@pennyhendrixx) April 14, 2020
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
won’t see a positive outcome with a negative outlook...
— Rashaad Penny (@pennyhendrixx) April 2, 2020
Whether one wishes to interpret that as Penny being down or not, I’ll leave up to you. However, with the Seahawks having ended the season with both Carson and Penny on injured reserve, leading to signing Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin off the street late in the year, it won’t be a surprise to see the team address the running back position in the draft. It won’t even be a surprise if the team uses multiple picks on the position during the draft.
As noted Sunday, the Seahawks are likely to draft a running back on Day 1 or Day 2 of the draft, and it’s possible the team could see a second back added to the roster on Day 3.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the team will follow the strategy of Joe Fann of NBC Sports Northwest, who released the following projection for the Hawks on Wednesday.
Took a stab at a seven-round #Seahawks mock draft.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) April 22, 2020
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/JF7mALgXb2
Long story short, the 2020 NFL Draft is here, and the Seahawks are going to draft a running back or two whether fans like it or not.
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