SeattleAddict wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 3:56 am
auroraave wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 9:39 pm
The RB situation was so unsettled as no one knew if Carson would be back, so Seattle went out and drafted the top rusher in the country in Rashaad Penny, a Heisman finalist with no injury history, the same guy some people call one of the worst draft picks. When your top need is an RB and you draft an RB, seems pretty logical. Carson returning and Penny getting injured were not data the team had available at the time. But on here - the meltdowns have been priceless and, as always, never take any context into account. lmao!
No, the selection of a RB wasn't the problem, the problem was taking PENNY. Michel, Chubb, Jones and Guice were rated higher, Penny having a second round grade. The problem was they reached for him, and besides Carson, they also had Rawls, although he was for some reason in the doghouse. Hell, imagine if they'd drafted Lamar Jackson and made him a RB. We'd have been 16-0.
Besides that, the complaint about Penny wasn't the injuries, it was the fact that he absolutely sucked. Could not break a tackle, couldn't AVOID a tackler, and couldn't hit a hole for 3 1/2 years. The injuries were just a punchline about him, not the complaint.
I am still dumbfounded by what I saw the last 5-6 weeks of the season. That could not be the same guy. It was just bizarre how he looked like a completely different player.
I will tell you that I generally dismiss 'the experts' and their 'opinions' because they are usually just going with the popular pick, the easy pick, yada yada yada. Same with PFF - I dismiss that stuff outright. So many fundamental errors are possible and it's all opinion based and 'hot takes.'
That said, those backs would absolutely been good picks - but who's to say they would not have been injured too? That was always what I heard the most - complaints about his injuries. I seem to recall Penny struggling, but also showed flashes at times, but ultimately, never got enough carries to really give a quality sample size to be judged in - IMO. And yes - that is because he got injured too much.
I was at the Stanford/SDST game and watched him torch a very stout Stanford defense - so when Seattle picked him, I thought he was a good pick - knowing that RB was the most glaring need and having seen what he was capable of, live. That is why the pick made perfect sense to me. Too many 'in hindsight' drafters on here. Ironically, Penny is not who I was wanting - I was thinking lineman - so I am not defending the pick as my own - but the rationality behind it and seeing him live made the pick completely logical to me. Struggles and injuries cannot be forecast - he dominated in college and had NO injury history.
Penny now is arguably the #1 back in a very deep backfield - imagine it if all comes full circle and he dominates after all this time. All those other backs will be in decline and he will just be peaking. Funny how things can play out. Or he can strain his labia and be out all season. Really could go either way.