Detroit Lions predictive seven round mock draft

Round Three: Rashaad Penny, running back, SDSU

Rashaad Penny is another player with a somewhat questionable draft placement. In 1995 he might have been the first running back off the board. Purely as a runner he stands equal to the best of this class. He has elite lateral agility. His stop/start and acceleration are nearly on par with Saquon Barkley. Penny’s ability to navigate through traffic between the tackles is second to none. He is willing to drop his head and hit a hole and gain tough yardage when required. He prefers not to do that in general, he normally uses his bulk to run through arm tackles. Luckily he is able to use his agility to avoid head-on impact more often than not. He turns a lot of hits into near misses.

The reason I believe that Penny is likely to fall in the draft is the passing game. Penny is more than capable of making noise as a receiver. With the ball in the open field against defensive backs, Penny is a wrecking ball. He does suffer from concentration drops. As Lions fans have seen in the past, this is not a trait that goes away. Some players can reign in their mindset for a season, but a player who drops the ball in college will drop the ball in the pros.

Even worse than that is his pass blocking. Pathetic is the most accurate descriptive word. Penny is particularly successful in getting open on screens because his fake blocks are occasionally better than his legitimate block attempts. That is a serious problem in the modern NFL. Not every running back needs to be a great blocker, but they have to be a willing blocker. Penny does not appear to be that at times.

Some will look at Penny as filling the same role as Lagerrette Blount on the roster and thus a poor choice. Redundancy, in this case, is not a bad thing. The Lions need this type of player more than any other if they want to change their running game into an effective one. Blount is an older player at a position that breeds injuries. Having a backup plan is important, and Penny is one heck of a backup plan.

There is also a future beyond just this season to consider. Blount is likely a one year player for the Lions. Without any additional moves, the team will be looking for that same type of back again next year. Penny fills the role for several seasons in addition to providing injury insurance as a rookie. The Detroit Lions met with Penny at the Senior Bowl and Quinn has a history of attending the SDSU pro day personally.