The Seahawks got their first look at first-round running back Rashaad Penny on the field during their three-day rookie minicamp and the first reviews of his work are positive ones.
Coach Pete Carroll said the team focused on putting Penny in a variety of postions in and out of the backfield during the practice sessions and found the rookie “can do whatever we need to do in the throwing game.” Those skills as a pass catcher make it easier to keep Penny on the field, but he’ll also need to prove adept as a pass blocker and that’s something the Seahawks will have to find out down the line.
“We’re gonna work real hard with his pass protection and make sure that he’s up to speed there,” Carroll said, via the Tacoma News Tribune. “We’d like to see if we can make him available to us on all three downs. Kind of like we use Chris [Carson].”
Carson had a promising start last year, but a broken leg put him out of action after four games so the Seahawks can’t be totally sure what they have in him. If those good signs survived the injury and Penny develops as hoped, Seattle will feel a lot better about their backfield than they did at the end of last year.