Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny will miss the rest of the season, coach Pete Carroll confirmed on his radio show Monday morning on Seattle Sports 710.
Carroll said Penny suffered a broken fibula as well as damage to his tibia when he was injured during a run early in the third quarter of Seattle’s 39-32 loss to New Orleans on Sunday.
Carroll said Penny will need surgery and that the recovery is going to take “a number of months.”
It’s the second time Penny has suffered a season-ending injury in his five-year Seahawks career since being taken in the first round of the 2018 draft, 27th overall.
Penny, who had revived his career in 2021 rushing for at least 135 yards in four of the final five games of the season, led the Seahawks with 346 yards on 57 carries, averaging 6.1 per attempt, before he was injured Sunday.
With Penny sidelined, the Seahawks will now turn to rookie Kenneth Walker III, a second-round pick out of Michigan State.
Walker turned in a 69-yard TD run in the fourth quarter Sunday and has 146 yards on 23 carries for the season.
“Now it comes up where he’s got a ton of responsibility and opportunity,” Carroll said Monday.
Penny signed a one-year contract worth up to $5.75 million last spring with the Seahawks hoping he would pick up where he left off in 2021.
Penny is now the second running back the Seahawks have lost this season with Chris Carson waived with a failed physical designation in July due to a neck injury that has forced him to retire.
Seattle has just two healthy running backs on its 53-man roster in Walker and DeeJay Dallas, with Travis Homer placed on injured reserve following the Atlanta game with a rib injury — Homer must miss at least two more games.
Seattle has Darwin Thompson and Godwin Igwebuike on the practice squad.
Following Sunday’s game, Carroll spoke at length about how Penny persevered through the injuries earlier in his career — most notably a torn ACL suffered in December 2019 in a game in Los Angeles — to return to the lineup.
“This has been a journey for him and for us, too,” Carroll said. “I fell in love with the fact that he emerged and showed us the great player he is and what he can mean to the game and to our team and all that. For it to come down to another setback, he will be back. It is a setback that it just breaks my heart. He has been having so much fun. He’s been so rewarded and so fulfilled. He knows he belongs. He knows he can do it. He knows he can be an impact in this league.
“To lose that chance, it’s similar to when (safety) Jamal (Adams) goes out. They put so much into it and care so much about it. To have it taken away because of a mishap’s unfortunate. We’re going to love him through it. I’ve talked to him. He’s crushed.”
