Was I right, or was I right? Prior to the NFL Draft, I wrote about why I thought Trevor Penning would be a bust. I noted how he’s over aggressive and very sloppy in his technique. This didn’t prevent the New Orleans Saints from drafting him 19th overall. Well, right about now, I feel like I’m right. While it may be early, Penning is turning into a bust right in front of my eyes.
Intersquad Scuffles
As a former college football player, I know that when you throw the pads on, tensions get high. Even though you’re facing teammates, you want to rip their head off in every drill. While you are thinking that, you do realize that you have to rein it in and play smart. Apparently, Penning never learned that at any level of football. When the Saints got the pads on in camp, Penning was involved in multiple scraps with defensive teammates. I noted prior that Penning may just have a low football IQ, and this really proves the point.
During camp, there were three days where Penning was involved in fights which ended in him being kicked out of practice on the third occasion. When I see this, I get concerned that Penning will be undisciplined in games when tensions flare and will be prone to personal fouls. I understand playing with a chip on your shoulder, but Penning is just an obstreperous asshole in practice. Doing stuff like playing past the whistle and fighting teammates doesn’t help your team win games.
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo Absolutely Worked Penning
In the Saints first preseason game against Houston, edge rusher Ogbonnia Okoronkwo made Penning look silly play after play. Okoronkwo is going into his fourth NFL season, his first with Houston, and has a career total of 34 tackles and 4.5 sacks. He dominated the Saints potential starting left tackle. In the first clip of the attached Twitter video, Okoronkwo hit Penning with an inside spin and put him to his butt. He caught Penning leaning after he set too deep in his pass set. Penning committed an offensive line sin by giving up the inside.
In the next clip, Penning appears to be very robotic in his set and Okoronkwo dips and rips past him. He’s shown that he can’t work well against speedy pass rushers that bend the edge, so how will he fair against Brian Burns or Shaw Barrett? The third and final clip is of Penning allowing a sack after he presents an atrocious pass set. He oversets Okoronkwo and when Okoronkwo cuts back inside, he doesn’t even make an attempt to post back down. Penning tries to chase after Okoronkwo after he’s already taken the inside.
Overall, Penning looks terrible in the pass game and this won’t end well for him when he has Pro Bowl and All-Pro pass rushers barreling down on him. It feels good to be right.
