The Eagles have the NFL’s top rushing attack and take pride in a committee approach to running opposing defenses out of the building late in games.
Philadelphia lost Miles Sanders to the Panthers but regrouped by signing Rashaad Penny to a one-year deal and trading for D’Andre Swift during the NFL draft.
Bleacher Report recently released a list of the most overlooked additions from the 2023 NFL offseason, and the talented Rashaad Penny made the list for the Eagles.
Penny is clearly betting on himself and has a great opportunity to earn a bigger contract in 2024 if he can stay healthy. That hasn’t been easy, however, as the 27-year-old has missed a significant amount of action since he first entered the league as a first-round pick in 2018. Penny has participated in only 42 of a possible 82 games in that span, missing at least six contests in each season that followed his rookie year. After finishing the 2021 campaign on a high note—rushing for 671 yards and six touchdowns over the last five weeks—Penny went down again in 2022 with a broken fibula just five weeks into the season.
That injury would mark the end of Penny’s time with the Seattle Seahawks, allowing the Eagles to capitalize on his availability with a low-risk signing that could pay dividends for the reigning NFC champs. According to Brad Spielberger of PFF, no back averaged more yards per carry or yards after contact from 2021 to ’22 than Penny. Now playing behind one of the NFL’s top offensive lines in the City of Brotherly Love, Penny has a perfect opportunity to finally stay healthy and consistently produce at a high level.
Penny had the best season of his career in 2021, rushing for 749 yards and six touchdowns, but he was limited to only ten games, and he hasn’t played over ten since his rookie season.
Penny’s running style is an excellent fit for the Eagles’ offense; as a power back at 220 pounds, he runs with good vision and could dominate behind Philadelphia’s dominant offensive line.
Penny only has just 27 career catches and has never had ten or more catches in any one season, so he’ll be the guy that Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson turn to when the Eagles want to sit on a lead.
