Rashaad Penny has successful surgery

Fans of the Seattle Seahawks are more than well aware of the fact that the 2022 season of former first round pick Rashaad Penny is over following an ankle injury in Week 5 against the New Orleans Saints. Things looked bleak when Seattle head coach Pete Carroll referred to the injury as “serious” in his post-game meeting with the media, as in Pete-speak referring to an injury as “serious” has fans asking if a player is on life support.

The fears of fans were quickly confirmed, when Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that it was believed Penny had broken his leg, with indications that further testing would be required in order to determine if there was any additional damage. Fears of additional damage were confirmed Monday when it leaked out that Penny’s injury would indeed require season-ending surgery.

Wednesday the team announced that Penny had undergone successful surgery, and while doing so shared the details of the additional damage beyond just the broken fibula.

The most important part of the update on his injury is this:

Team Physicians Ed Khalfayan and Nick Seibert repaired a fibula fracture, syndesmotic ligament tear and deltoid ligament tear in a surgery performed at the Seattle Surgery Center. Penny is expected to be on crutches and in a splint or walking boot for six weeks. Penny will miss the rest of the season, but is expected to make a full recovery.

The news regarding the deltoid ligament tear is not good. Deltoid ligament tears are bad news, and have derailed the careers of multiple NFL players, including Eddie Lacy, Michael Thomas and others. New York Jets cornerback Bryce Hall had been projected as a Day 1 or Day 2 pick in the 2020 draft, but in October of his senior season he suffered a broken fibula and torn deltoid ligament, an injury that kept him off the field for more than a full calendar year.

Obviously, there is no way to know how his recovery will go, and Penny has access to the best doctors and medical treatment available, so hope for a full recovery certainly remains. However, between the hardware that can be required to repair such an injury and how fickle ankle injuries can be when it comes to recovery, Penny will certainly have his work cut out for himself in the coming weeks and months as he works to rehab once the walking boot is off.