It took over a year for Rashaad Penny to get back into a game with the Seattle Seahawks after injuring his knee against the Los Angeles Rams last December.
Penny tore the ACL in his left knee along with additional damage on his only touch of Seattle’s loss to the Rams on Dec. 8, 2019. Penny spent the entire 2020 on the physically unable to perform list before being activated ahead of last week’s win over the Washington Football Team.
Penny was coming off two of the best performances of his career in the weeks preceding the injury and he’s thrilled to be back with the team for this year’s playoff push.
“Being back, it was a long road,” Penny said on Thursday. “I’m just ecstatic to be here and to be back and being around the team. Like I told the guys, 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 watching it on TV every weekend.”
Penny, Seattle’s first-round pick in 2018, had rushed for a career-high 129 yards and a touchdown in Seattle’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 24 of last year. The following week, he rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 33 yards and another score. Penny, Chris Carson and C.J. Prosise would all be lost to season-ending injuries within an eight-day span that necessitated the team to bring back Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin for the rest of the season.
Penny played six snaps in last week’s 20-15 win over Washington. He carried twice for six yards in his return to action.
“I’m easing myself back into getting back out there and just get back to playing ball at the normal rate,” Penny said. “How I finished the last two weeks of last year, I’m just trying to get that feel again and contribute in any way this team needs me to contribute.”