Penny’s effectiveness is dependent on blocking scheme and health. He has always been fast, but not quick and shifty, heavy, but he doesn’t run with power. He doesn’t create yards after contact with elusiveness or power. To be effective, he needs open running lanes to use his top end speed and vision.
if he were to be signed, I would take it as a hint to what Grub plans for the run game. I would also see him as the fourth running back (insurance for injuries to RB1 & 2) with special teams potential. Kicking the tires on penny has absolutely nothing to do with the current top three running backs on the roster.
I watched Rashaad Penny's career highlights, trying to get a better sense of his style. I see different things than you.
If only Penny could have stayed consistently healthy--the talent is there. Definitely not a miss on talent, only availability.
On his best runs, Penny has a great sense for following his blockers and finding the hole. Once he sees the hole, Penny has a WARP SPEED acceleration to and through the hole that is Eric-Dickerson-like. Seriously. I would have to disagree, that while Penny doesn't LOOK quick and shifty, but in fact he is, though deceptively so. In particular, he has a knack for breaking a run to the outside, setting up his outside cut and leaving defenders grasping at air. I'm not arguing that he's LaDainian Tomlinson, but I'd call him a Poor Man's LT with a faster top-end than LT. Yes, Penny runs away from DBs for long gains, where LT couldn't quite, and had to make a move downfield to extend runs. LT has a few more moves and is better after contact, not more "powerful" but better at staying on his feet.
Penny runs with plenty of POWER, but he prefers to slip tackles by cutting around them and making defenders miss, rather than run over them. He does run plenty of would-be tacklers over, but generally goes down, losing his balance and falling forward. Chris Carson, by contrast, had an ability to stay upright after contact a good chunk of the time. It would be fair to say that overpowering tacklers is not Penny's first choice. Penny runs through arm tackles with ease, and once he hits his warpspeed mode, he runs through a lot of DB attempted tackles.
The video below is Rashaad Penny's career highlight runs. If only he'd been healthy more often. No idea what Penny has left in the tank.