Rashaad Penny successful surgery on 3 leg issues. Expected to play in 2023. For Seahawks?
Rashaad Penny’s major injury was triply bad.
The Seahawks announced their lead running back who sustained a season-ending injury last weekend in their loss at New Orleans had successful surgery Tuesday performed by two team physicians at the Seattle Surgery Center.
Doctors Ed Khalfayan and Nick Seibert repaired a fibula fracture, a syndesmotic ligament tear and a deltoid ligament tear.
A syndesmotic ligament tear is what’s commonly known as a high-ankle sprain, a tearing of ligaments higher up the leg from the ankle. The deltoid ligament is the main ligament of the inner ankle, as defined by The Physio Depot.
The doctors expect Penny to be on crutches and in a splint or a walking boot for six weeks. Their prognosis is for Seattle’s 26-year-old first-round draft choice from 2018 to make a full recovery for next season.
Once again, as it was for him this time last year coming off two years of leg issues and before his revival late last season, Penny’s NFL career is in doubt. His contract with the Seahawks ends after the 2022 season.
Penny rushed for at least 135 yards in five of his previous nine games dating to December, before he got hurt Sunday. He was five games into taking over for retired best friend Chris Carson as Seattle’s lead rusher. Carson had to retire this summer following neck-fusion surgery that ended his career last season.
Because of his five years of injuries, every season he’s been in the league, Penny is unlikely to command a multiyear contract in free agency next spring.
He didn’t last spring. He signed only a one-year contract worth $5.75 million to return to Seattle for 2022.
Coach Pete Carroll said this week Penny is going to be able to play football again. He wasn’t unequivocal if Penny was going to play again for the Seahawks.
The fact is the team doesn’t know.
Ken Walker’s time now
Carroll and general manager John Schneider drafted Ken Walker in the second round this past spring with the belief he can be a lead back for them. Walker missed most of the preseason with a hernia and was out into September. Seattle’s home game Sunday against Arizona will be the first chance for the team to see Walker featured in the offense.
Walker is now the Seahawks’ main runner for as far as anyone with the team can see, at the sport’s most injured position, with the shortest career span of less than three years.
Penny got hurt landing awkwardly on his left leg at the end of a 6-yard run into the Seahawks’ sideline in the second quarter of their loss to the Saints Sunday. He was in tears on the bench immediately after the injury, obviously knowing it was major and he was facing another long-term recovery.
He tore ligaments in his knee during a game at the Los Angeles Rams in December 2019. The injury and the recovery from reconstructive knee surgery affected him for two years, into last season.
“It’s really a heartbreaker for a kid who has really bounced back into the limelight of our program,” Carroll said. “He’s been through such a long haul, it’s really just a heartbreaking loss for him. He’s been doing great and everybody can see it, and we’ve been so excited for him.
“He’s going to miss the rest of this year. He’ll come back, he’ll be able to play again and all of that. It’s a really clear surgery process and all of that. But it just does take a long time.”
Rashaad Penny feels he let people down
Days before his latest injury, Penny said how appreciative he was of just being able to play again, of being healthy and able to finally produce for a team and fans he believes he’d disappointed for most of the four previous years.
“I felt like I let people down as far as being hurt all of the time, not making it to Sundays, and not showing my true potential, because I really know what I can do,” he said last week. “I feel like they drafted me here for a reason, and I feel like I can give a lot when I’m healthy. That’s just one thing, health, and I always tried to stay on top of that.
“But it’s hard,” Penny said last week. “As an NFL player, I’m getting hit by guys that are 300 pounds. Safeties tackling at knees. It’s not easy to stay healthy.
“I thank God when I come out of the game every day now. I’m just thankful that I am healthy.”
