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Brady HendersonESPN
RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks fear running back Rashaad Penny will miss this weekend’s game against the Tennessee Titans and possibly longer because of a calf injury, coach Pete Carroll said Monday.
Penny, the Seahawks’ No. 2 running back behind Chris Carson, left Sunday’s season-opening win over the Indianapolis Colts after seven snaps and two carries for 8 yards. Carroll said after the 28-16 victory that the team played it safe by pulling Penny when the calf tightened up, knowing it had three other tailbacks available.
On Monday, Carroll called Penny’s injury a calf strain.
“It’ll take us a bit to figure out what the return will be on that,” Carroll said. “He ran really well when he ran … so we’re going to miss him, it looks like, this week.”
Carroll later mentioned the possibility that Penny could be out a couple of weeks. He said the team is in “good shape” at the position with Carson, Alex Collins, DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer. Collins was inactive Sunday, one of six healthy scratches for the Seahawks after they entered their opener with no one listed as out, doubtful or questionable on their final injury report.
Penny’s career has been marred by injuries since Seattle chose him 27th overall in the 2018 draft. He missed 21 regular-season games over his first three seasons, including 13 last year after tearing an ACL in December 2019. He missed the offseason program following a cleanup procedure on the knee, then got off to a strong start in training camp only to miss more time with a thigh injury.
The Seahawks declined Penny’s fifth-year option in May, making 2021 a contract season.
Also Monday, Carroll said the Seahawks will know more Wednesday about the statuses of wide receivers Dee Eskridge and Penny Hart, who both left the opener with head injuries and are now in the concussion protocol. Carroll said he hadn’t seen the test results on backup center Ethan Pocic‘s sprained knee. Pocic rotated in with starter Kyle Fuller for 14 snaps before he was hurt in the fourth quarter.