RB to return in Eagles' first preseason game

Rashaad Penny. Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

RB to make return in Eagles' first preseason game

By Bruce Ewing | Last updated 8/10/23

Eagles running back Rashaad Penny is excited to play in Philadelphia’s first preseason game on Saturday. He’s been out of action since October when his season ended with a broken leg, but maybe he should sit this one out.

Thanks to a variety of injuries over the past five years, Penny played in just 42 of a possible 82 games with Seattle. He took the team’s first snap in July when Philadelphia opened training camp, but some fans would rather not see him until September.

With a career average of 5.7 yards per carry (6.2 over the past two seasons), Penny may be the team’s best pure runner. He hasn’t caught many passes in his career, which is probably why the team traded for D’Andre Swift.

Rashaad Penny hasn’t played in a game since last October. He’s excited to maybe get on the field Saturday for the #Eagles preseason opener pic.twitter.com/bp2kWKy4RZ
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) August 10, 2023

Swift and Penny are both working with the first team in camp, but so are Kenny Gainwell, Boston Scott and Trey Sermon. Given Swift and Penny’s injury history, no one would blame head coach Nick Sirianni if Sermon and Scott got all the carries in preseason games.

Even at 5-foot-6, Scott has proven to be a durable runner in five years as an Eagle. Sermon had just two carries in two games with the team last year, but at 215 pounds he’s the biggest running back on the roster. Sirianni has been talking him up during camp, so why not give him the bulk of carries against the Ravens?

To be fair, Penny is down to 230 pounds after playing at 237 pounds with the Seahawks and thinks the weight loss will help keep him healthy. "I just feel lighter. The knees feel great and my ankles feel amazing," Penny said. "I think I could play 20 more years here (laughing) just because of how good they take care of you.

That all sounds good, but if the team really wants to take care of Penny, they’ll keep him out of preseason games. He’s already gone 10 months without an NFL carry, one more couldn’t hurt.

More must-reads: