Another 100+ yards game for Penny

[Vesuve]

Penny has been productive, with help from our OL. At end of 3rd quarter, he has 103 yards on 17 carries, average 6.1 yards. Our boy is having a nice few games.

He's now a UFA....

So, perhaps that was the reason he get off his arse.

 

[toffee]

The late season emergence of Jake Curhan is no longer a secret.

And, Phil Haynes has worked his way back from previous injury and has shown well at both left guard last week and at right guard this final week. Great to have a versatile swing guard.

Very encouraging indicators of the direction of the offensive line. The line play has been a very good reflection of what Mike Solari is about.

Everybody benefits.

Instead of a wholesale change on OL, which could be very expensive, we might be able to spend more on LT replacement. Curhan, Jackson, Haynes, Lewis, and Pocic may be pretty good in run blocking, and adequate in pass blocking with some improvements.

Plenty of unfinished business to attend to. It remains to be seen if Duane Brown is done. Or if an encore performance awaits.

Even have Brown could have that last dance, he won't last forever. Getting on age also meant more injury prone etc., so it's time to invest in a Brown successor this off-season. If Brown indeed got another encore as you put it, that would allow us to draft someone who may need a season or so to get ready, unless Stone could take that big step forward.

As it's our current OL seems to work well with Penny, heck, if Penny could run at 80% as effective as he had the last five games, but for one complete season, he would be a 1500 yards back.

 

[FattyKnuckle]

Penny has been productive, with help from our OL. At end of 3rd quarter, he has 103 yards on 17 carries, average 6.1 yards. Our boy is having a nice few games.

I don't want to take anything at all from Penny but he has been getting massive lanes from the OL during his surge.

 

[kf3339]

I didn't watch any of the game at all, so not sure if this was a real effort on the part of the Cardinals. They already had a playoff spot and may have lacked a real effort to play hard to win. I just don't know.

I still don't believe Penny has suddenly became a true RB1, but anything is possible. I'm not sure he deserves more than a one or two year contract with little guaranteed money and heavy incentives. I can see some bad team with massive cap room giving him a much better contract than we will offer him. But who knows.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Um, they had EVERYTHING to play for. In fact, the Hawks winning knocked them out of the division title.
The guy has been blasted his entire career because of injuries. He's finally healthy and tearing it up. Would it hurt to actually give the guy some credit??? He's clearly a hell of a RB.
This place sometimes.........

 

[pittpnthrs]

Um, they had EVERYTHING to play for. In fact, the Hawks winning knocked them out of the division title.
The guy has been blasted his entire career because of injuries. He's finally healthy and tearing it up. Would it hurt to actually give the guy some credit??? He's clearly a hell of a RB.
This place sometimes.........

Agreed. I'm eating my crow as I was skeptical on what he could do against good teams and he proved me wrong yesterday. He has played well enough that the FO has a hell of a decision to make now. If they sign him to a nice contract and he comes in next season unmotivated or gets hurt yet again,,,urgh. If they let him walk and he excels for another team,,,urgh. What to do, what to do.

 

[sutz]

Carson does not have that kind of breakaway speed, nor the burst in the hole. On that 62 yard TD run, Carson probably would have gotten 10-12 yards or so. Carson could realistically be done, and I don't think his contract is such that we lose much if he retires or is cut.

Re-sign Penney (someone will probably give him $15-20 mill/4 years or so, might as well be us) and draft a young guy to develop. Though Dallas and Homer are not bad guys to have in the stable, they're probably not every down backs.

 

[themunn]

Guys like Penny, they always come through when you don't need them. Time to move on. Let him be someone else's problem next year.

I mean, in 2018 and 2019 he was clear 2nd choice behind Carson, who had 525 carries over the 2 years. Penny still had 150 carries which you'd expect from a number 2 back - and just as he was beginning to stake a claim to fight for the number 1 jersey in late 2019, he tore his ACL and wasn't cleared to play until December 2020. Clearly still impacted by this injury in 2021 it took until late in the year for him to shake it off - but in 2018 and 2019 he avged over 5 ypc, and back to full fitness again he's showing what he's always showed, that when fit, healthy, and given the opportunity, he is an excellent RB.

With 749 rushing yards in 2021 to add to his 34 yards (on 11 carries) in 2020, he has 783 yards on 130 carries over last 2 years. This compares to 913 from Carson in same period (on 195 carries! 65 carries more for just 130 yards!).

Carson can be cut next year for just $3m dead cap, but would have a cap hit of $6.5m if carried. I say use that to resign Penny. Four games out of the last 5 with 130+ rushing yards is frankly insane - Chris Carson has one game of 130+ (131) yards in his entire career.

Let's not forget that for the first 2.75 years of his career Derrick Henry was also underwhelming given his high draft status (490 yards rookie year, 744 sophomore, 474 yards in first 12 games in 2019, before breaking out with 585 yards in final 4 games of third season and then continuing on over next few years). He didn't even have the excuse of being 2nd choice behind an established starter or tearing an ACL.

 

[Grahamhawker]

Let's not forget that for the first 2.75 years of his career Derrick Henry was also underwhelming given his high draft status (490 yards rookie year, 744 sophomore, 474 yards in first 12 games in 2019, before breaking out with 585 yards in final 4 games of third season and then continuing on over next few years). He didn't even have the excuse of being 2nd choice behind an established starter or tearing an ACL.

I guess this comparison kinda works as neither Penny nor Henry were exactly early-bloomers, but after that ...?
Henry was drafted #45 and was behind Demarco Murray who had a pretty decent year in 2016- less so in 2017.
But clearly it's exactly that injury history that weighs heavily and leads to serious questions about future dependability and how much $$ to invest. I hope we find a way to keep him, but I fear some team throws down with crazy $$ we maybe shouldn't match.

 

[kf3339]

Um, they had EVERYTHING to play for. In fact, the Hawks winning knocked them out of the division title.
The guy has been blasted his entire career because of injuries. He's finally healthy and tearing it up. Would it hurt to actually give the guy some credit??? He's clearly a hell of a RB.
This place sometimes.........

Again, didn't watch the game at all. Just asked a questions which was fair. But I'm hearing the O-Line had large holes for him to run thru, so was it the line or him. I don't know. I will say that he is going to get a contract from someone that is going to be far larger than he deserves for a 5 game sample against mostly weak competition.

I will stick with my believe that he shouldn't get more than a one or two years minimal contract with game availability and production incentives. Anything more and I let him walk. If the line is starting to gel then an average RB will look just as good running thru those large holes.

This place sometimes........

 

[themunn]

Let's not forget that for the first 2.75 years of his career Derrick Henry was also underwhelming given his high draft status (490 yards rookie year, 744 sophomore, 474 yards in first 12 games in 2019, before breaking out with 585 yards in final 4 games of third season and then continuing on over next few years). He didn't even have the excuse of being 2nd choice behind an established starter or tearing an ACL.

I guess this comparison kinda works as neither Penny nor Henry were exactly early-bloomers, but after that ...?
Henry was drafted #45 and was behind Demarco Murray who had a pretty decent year in 2016- less so in 2017.
But clearly it's exactly that injury history that weighs heavily and leads to serious questions about future dependability and how much $$ to invest. I hope we find a way to keep him, but I fear some team throws down with crazy $$ we maybe shouldn't match.

You're right, I got my timing mixed up by one year thinking he was drafted the year after Murrays good year rather than same year. In any case, in 2018 when he should have been demonstrating his capabilities as a starter it took 12 games before he finally 'got it', and haven't looked back since.

Lynch was a punishing runner too but wasn't until 1.5 years in with Seattle that he started to play like a top 5 back too

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Yeah, hoping for a fair deal that has some incentives. Works for both sides. Trust me when I say he's showing that he is a very versatile back. Runs with power, has great field vision, and is pretty damn fast for his size. We can agree to disagree, but he doesn't look like an average back at all.
Very glad I was wrong about the guy. He looks like a completely different player now :irishdrinkers: