Two of the Seahawks most volatile fantasy options are expected to play in the regular season opener at Denver. Doug Baldwin has been dealing with a mystery knee ailment that has kept him out of the entirety of the preseason, but Pete Carroll went on the record to say Baldwin has been “progressing as hoped” and he will “for sure” be ready for Week 1. On the other hand, rookie RB Rashaad Penny had a brutal start to his NFL career before fracturing his finger at practice, yet Carroll also said he “will be ready” for the opener.
Leading a very sparse receiver corps, we thought Baldwin had a chance to be the the ultimate ‘Target Hog’ for Russell Wilson. Then, he showed up to camp with a sore knee, which then resulted in quite the tumble down our Big Board — all the way down to WR18 (-7 vs the ECR). If Baldwin continues his conditioning and starts to practice at 100 percent, he’ll get a decent bump up in the rankings. The mysterious knee injury that hasn’t been announced to the public should make you hesitate, but keep an eye on how coddled he is at practice. That’ll give you a clue about the severity of the injury.
Then we have Penny, the former Aztec who has taken the ultimate fall down our rankings. His talent and draft position alone had him relatively high off the bat, but the resurgence and utter domination by Chris Carson has completely throttled Penny’s value. In Penny’s lone preseason action, he got manhandled in pass protection and averaged a measly and pathetic 2 yards per carry. Penny was in pads on Tuesday and could even play in the preseason finale.
Bookmark our Big Board and Stock Watch to keep track of their respective recoveries.
