Outlook: Seattle shocked many when they made Rashaad Penny the second running back taken off the board in April's NFL Draft, ahead of the likes of Darrius Guice, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb and others. While he didn't grade as highly as those backs on some expert boards, it's worth considering that Seattle made a strong investment in him with a first round pick, which almost certainly guarantees that he'll be given every opportunity to succeed in this offense.

Penny dominated in his senior season at San Diego State as the leading rusher in all of college football, rushing for a whopping 2,248 yards with a 7.8 yards per carry average. He finished his college career averaging 7.5 yards per game, albeit in a weak Mountain West Conference. Penny shows upper-percentile straight line speed and has also shown that he can make an impact catching the ball, although that is something he'll need to improve on to be an elite fantasy back in the NFL.

Seattle's offensive line issues continue to be a major concern. They did finally make a move during the season in 2017 to acquire left tackle Duane Brown, who quickly became their best offensive lineman, but the team really did not address the other positions across the line this offseason. That could be a problem for a player like Penny who, while explosive when given a crease, can struggle when holes don't open up quickly in front of him.

Another area that is a bit of a concern is that Penny does lack experience and technique in pass protection. This can often be a reason why rookie running backs are kept off the field, even when they are producing counting stats when given the ball. This could lead to more of a split backfield than many want to believe.

Still, Penny has first-round draft capital which is often enough to warrant a decent enough workload for him to be a valuable fantasy asset this season, particularly in dynasty formats where a case could easily be made for him to be the No. 2 overall player off the board.

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Outlook: The Ty Montgomery experiment had some high moments (Weeks 1 and 2) but mostly gets an incomplete for the season. With 18 receptions over the first three weeks it was abundantly clear Montgomery retained the ability to catch the ball after his transition from receiver. He even found the endzone twice, but from Week 4 on injuries to himself and his quarterback killed any fantasy value he may have had. Montgomery's biggest knock is his ability to prove he could handle the rigors of a starting running back, and that question mark certainly remains, as he missed a total of 11 games over the last two seasons. It looks like he's spent the offseason in Green Bay trying to build his body, but with both Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones back, and proving they have the talent to produce in the NFL, Montgomery finds himself smack dab in the middle of a muddled backfield. It's tough to gauge how this backfield shakes out, but it's clear Montgomery's best usage will come as a chess piece the Packers can move around. They are fully committed to this experiment, and if he can stay healthy he should catch 40+ passes, and his best returns should come as a strong FLEX play in PPR leagues, or in the RB3 area in standard leagues.

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