Seahawks RB Penny sidelined for rest of season

Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny suffered a broken fibula and injured the tibia in his left leg on Sunday and will miss the rest of the season, coach Pete Carroll said Monday.

Penny’s injury will require surgery.

“It’s going to be a haul for him. This is what they refer to as a tib/fib incident. He broke his fibula and cracked that, but it’s the high-ankle sprain element of it that makes it difficult. And there’s a particular surgery that they do to connect and tighten down those bones,” Carroll said on Seattle Sports 710 AM on Monday.

“It’s going to take a number of months, so he’s going to miss the season. It’s really a heartbreaker for a kid that has really bounced back into the limelight of our program and for us and all, and for himself. He’s been through such a long haul that it’s really just a heartbreaking loss for him. He’d been doing great and everybody could see it and we’ve been so excited for him. … It’s a really clear surgery process and all that, but it just does take a long time.”

Penny, who broke out late last season after an injury-filled start to his career, went down at the end of a carry in the third quarter of the Seahawks’ 39-32 loss to the New Orleans Saints. He hobbled to the Seahawks’ bench with assistance from someone on either side of him, unable to put weight on his left leg. Before he was carted into the locker room, Penny was hanging his head while being tended to by the team doctor and head athletic trainer.

Penny carried eight times for 54 yards Sunday before his injury. After he went down, rookie second-round pick Ken Walker broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run that briefly gave Seattle a one-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Penny’s latest injury comes after his emergence as one of the NFL’s most productive running backs. He led the league with 671 rushing yards over the final five games of last season, which was 208 more than anyone else in that span. After a quiet start to 2022, he exploded for 151 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries last week in a performance that was reminiscent of his late-season surge.

Before that breakout, Penny’s career had been marred by a long list of injuries. The 27th overall pick in 2018, he missed 30 of a possible 69 games (including playoffs) because of injury over his first three seasons. That included a torn ACL in 2019 that sidelined him for much of 2020.

Penny has talked openly about how much his injuries have weighed on him, saying recently that he returned to Seattle this offseason in part because he felt he owed it to the Seahawks given all the time he had missed. The Seahawks brought Penny back on a one-year, $5.75 million deal that included more than $5 million in guarantees.

With Travis Homer on injured reserve (ribs) for at least two more games and Penny now out, the Seahawks, who were down to Walker and DeeJay Dallas at running back, claimed former Saints’ running back Tony Jones off waivers Monday.