3:55 pm ET
Brady HendersonESPN
The Seattle Seahawks have returned running back Rashaad Penny to a one-year contract, a source confirmed to ESPN on Sunday.
Penny returns on a provable deal after a stellar finish to his injury-riddled first three and a half seasons in the NFL.
Chris Carson, who has been with Seattle since 2018, has undergone neck surgery. Alex Collins, who first replaced Carson as a starter before being overtaken by Penny at the end of the season, is a free agent.
The NFL Network first reported Seattle’s deal with Penny.
Penny was considered a first-round underdog for most of his four seasons in the NFL and ended the 2021 season with one of the highest-scoring stretches in Seahawks history.
With Carson in reserve, Penny led the NFL with 671 yards – 208 more yards than anyone else – in the last five games. In doing so, Penny joined Sean Alexander as the only player in team history to reach 130 yards in three straight games. He also ran for a career-best 190 yards in the season finale.
He has hit six rushing touchdowns in those last five games, one more than in his first 32 regular season games.
By that point, Penny’s career had been blighted by a long list of injuries, including an ACL tear in December 2019 — just when he was starting to break out — that sidelined him for much of 2020. He also missed five games after the injury. calf in the first match of 2021 and another game in November due to a hamstring strain.
In total, the 26-year-old Penny missed 30 of the 69 possible games, including the playoffs, due to injury.
Penny, who spent most of his first four seasons playing for Carson after being selected 27th overall in 2018, has had bursts of productivity when he was healthy. In the seven games in which Penny threw at least 12 carries, he went over 100 yards in six of them with nine touchdowns.