Trevor Penning earns top PFF grade after yielding 5 pressures and a holding foul

Saints rookie left tackle Trevor Penning earned a top Pro Football Focus grade after yielding 5 pressures, a sack, and a holding penalty:

Hey, this is impressive: New Orleans Saints left tackle Trevor Penning received a sky-high overall grade from Pro Football Focus for his performance in the team’s preseason opener with the Houston Texans, clocking in at a 90.9 — with quite a distance separating him from his peers among the other first-round rookies playing on offense around the league.

Now, that’s just the initial grade PFF handed out. As part of their process, his game tape has been reviewed again and the grade tweaked a bit, dropping him down to a still-strong 86.2 overall. Whether the Saints agree with that sentiment or not remains to be seen. What’s clear, and this is well-established, is that PFF grades need to be taken with a grain of salt and some much-needed context.

We can get some of that from further digging into PFF’s findings. Penning’s overall grade is split into an elite 96.4 mark for his run blocking, which makes sense when you check the tape and see him bodying dudes and using his rare athleticism to cross an opponent’s face before they’ve even gotten off the line. Those special movement skills and mean streak are what got him drafted, and seeing him receive such a high grade checks out.

At the same time, you’ve got to consider the very bleak 28.6 grade that Penning earned for his pass protection snaps. He was beaten inside and out by the Texans pass-rush unit, yielding five quarterback pressures (including a sack) in the preseason opener. He’s one of four rookie linemen around the NFL to allow five or more pressures in the preseason. He was also fouled for holding, but the penalty was declined due to Ian Book being sacked on the play. Clearly the first-year pro has a lot to work on.

So what’s the issue? His feet are choppy and out of sync with his hands, which led to a lot of mistakes and limited how well he could move. It’s tough to sustain a block without setting your feet, or to mirror your opponent if your weight is shifted too far one way or another. Nailing down those techniques to move more smoothly and better protect himself and his quarterback will be key. Until then, Penning won’t be a threat to James Hurst as the starter. PFF’s grading system may value his highlights as a run blocker over his weaknesses in pass protection, but I wouldn’t assume the Saints feel the same way.

So how did he compare to his peers? PFF found just three other rookies around the league played more snaps than Penning (57, a startling total for an exhibition game, which goes to show how much work the Saints expect him to need to develop) so far, and one of them played two games already (Jacksonville Jaguars left guard Nick Ford, an undrafted rookie). The others are right tackles Luke Tenuta (66 snaps with the Buffalo Bills, a sixth round draft pick) and Daniel Faalele (63 reps with the Baltimore Ravens, a fourth rounder). The Saints are very much throwing Penning into the fire to see how he responds.

The good news is that they don’t need him to figure everything out right away. Hurst is a capable, experienced starter who the team can lean on while getting Penning up to speed. If Penning isn’t ready to roll out in Week 1 with the Atlanta Falcons, they can trot out Hurst just like they did so often last year. Waiting on Penning to adapt to the NFL game is a luxury they can afford — for now. Obviously things would be better if the rookie was a clear-cut upgrade, but that just isn’t what we’re seeing on tape right now. We’ll see how this storyline develops in the weeks ahead.

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