What do you call it when something good happens? Like, something that’s not the bad or mediocre thing you suspected would happen? I’m having a hard time even processing the reality that Rashaad Penny is a Seahawk. This is my face:
As we all know, Penny is a person of high character and a hell of a running back. The Seahawks are a running team that really needs a running back!
I was born and raised across the lake from Seattle. My suburban childhood was filled with trips downtown to watch the Sonics, the crappy Mariners and the usually crappy but exciting Seahawks. In college I got my Starter cap signed by Dan McGwire on the SDSU practice fields after he was drafted. I used to post a lot at Field Gulls. I went to the Super Bowl, the good one. I once wrote about the parallels between Steve Fisher’s Aztecs and Pete Carroll’s Seahawks, a dubious conflation stretched into a 10-point listicle.
So all my inner Pacific Northwest child really wanted out of this draft was my hometown team to somehow end up with one of the best Aztecs of all time; the 2017 NCAA rushing champ, the man, the legend, the touchdown machine, the pride of Norwalk, California, Rashaad Penny.
But at no point did I think that actually would happen. The Hawks would take the defensive end, the corner, the running back from LSU or one of the other players pushing Penny to the mid-to-late 2nd round on all the “”draft experts”” boards.
Rashaad wearing bolts and playing in Carson was a worse-case scenario for me personally as it presumably was for most Aztecs fans. The Seahawks pick was at 18. The not-San Diego team took a safety with their pick at 17, then the Seahawks traded down as usual, getting Green Bay’s pick at 27 plus a 3rd and a 6th. Penny to the Hawks started seeming a little more possible if still a distant dream.
Then it just … happened.
I was shocked. I fumbled my phone, gasping at the TV, verifying that I hadn’t hallucinated Penny’s name into Roger Goodell’s mouth.
Sherman Smith. Theotis Brown. Curt Warner. John L. Williams. Derrick Fenner. Chris Warren. Ricky Watters. Shaun Alexander. Marshawn Lynch.
Rashaad Penny.
He’s such a good dude, so humble, so overlooked, it feels like we all got drafted by the Seahawks. While Lamar Jackson waited in the NFL green room in a green suit Penny was in Norwalk with his family and friends, who were as jubilant and excited as you would expect. He’s a first-rounder, he’s going to a great franchise and he’s staying on the West Coast. It’s pretty damn amazing.
What a cool moment. Congratulations to Rashaad and the Penny family. San Diego is hugely thrilled for you. Seattle is going to LOVE you.
Important dates
Rashaad Penny and the Seahawks visit the Chargers in Carson on August 18th (preseason). Seattle plays the Rams at the L.A. Coliseum on November 11th.
Great minds and so forth
Rocky Long told the U-T’s Kirk Kenney that Penny suspected he’d go in the first round, and was even more specific:
“I asked him, ‘Who would you like to go to?’ ” Long said. “Rashaad said he wanted to go to the Seahawks. How about that one? So he had a feeling.”
Run the numbers
The Seahawks assigned some new jersey numbers prior to the draft. Running back J.D. McKissic switched from 21 to 20, Penny’s college number. McKissic is a former undrafted free agent and practice squad player. I’m guessing they’ll work it out and Rashaad gets his digits.
KABEER THIRTY 