Northern Iowa offensive tackle Trevor Penning upped his profile during a Senior Bowl in which he looked for fight after fight as a blocker, and frequently found them. Penning took his brand further during the scouting combine, when he ran a 4.89 40-yard dash, had a 28-inch vertical jump, a 111-inch broad jump, a 7.25-second three-cone drill, and a 4.62-second 20-yard shuttle.
That’s all good, but what happens when Penning takes his hyper-aggressive style to the NFL, and the NFL’s best pass-rushers and pass-rushing schemes? That’s another matter. Penning allowed one sack and 11 total pressures last season when his toughest opponent was… maybe Eastern Washington? Things get more complicated in the NFL, and even at the Senior Bowl, Penning’s aggressiveness worked against him as much as it helped him — like on the rep where he threw an edge defender right into quarterback Desmond Ridder, essentially creating his own sack.
That’s not to say that Penning doesn’t have top-tier NFL potential — some team is probably going to invest a first-round pick to find out. But Browns edge-rusher Myles Garrett, who had 16 sacks, 15 quarterback hits, and 45 quarterback hurries in 2021, wanted Mr. Penning to know that things are going to be a bit tougher the next time he puts on a uniform, and things get real.
Goodluck with that… https://t.co/5myUmNSFvl
— Myles Garrett (@Flash_Garrett) March 6, 2022
Good luck with Garrett’s bull-rush, or Von Miller’s long-arm, or T.J. Watt’s speed counter? Indeed. That’ll be the next level of Penning’s development, and Garrett just wanted to remind him of that.