Rashaad Penny, SDSU Great, Retires from NFL After Six Seasons

Running back Rashaad Penny, a San Diego State great, has retired from the NFL, according to reports.

ESPN reported that Penny, 28, told the Carolina Panthers on Monday that he was retiring. The team put Penny on the reserve/retired list the following day.

“He came up and just felt he wasn’t himself,” the Panthers coach, Dave Canales, told ESPN. “I had to respect that going forward.”

His path in the NFL – with Seattle, which drafted him with the 27th pick in 2018, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Carolina, where he was attempting a comeback – was injury riddled. He tore his ACL five years ago and broke his leg in 2021.

He ran for 1,951 yards and 13 touchdowns in six NFL seasons.

In four seasons with the Aztecs, Penny was a three-time Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year (2015-17) and the 2017 Offensive Player of the Year – 2017 was the first and only time a player has won both conference awards in a season.

He shattered the record books as a senior in 2017, ranking fifth in NCAA FBS history in rushing yards (2,248) and all-purpose yards (2,974), and setting a NCAA record with a 7.78 rush average. The 2,248 yards set a school record.

For his efforts, he finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting, while being named a consensus first-team All-American. He also was honored last year as one of the top football players in the past 25 years in the MW.