Elijhaa Penny steps up in final chance to show what he could do

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Elijhaa Penny knows where he stands with regards to the Arizona Cardinals’ running back room and went into Thursday night’s preseason finale well aware of the tenuous position his roster spot is in.

It was his last chance to show the Cardinals that he belonged on the roster, and all he did was run for 113 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries in Arizona’s 38-17 victory.

Simply put, the undrafted rookie free agent from Idaho came up big when he needed to most.

“That was pretty much my main approach this whole week, well, the whole training camp and  preseason, really,” he said of auditioning for a job. “Just really learn as much as I can from the guys we have in the running back room and come out here and continue to play hard.”

Penny said he feels like he showed 31 other teams that he belonged in the NFL, if not the Cardinals. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound back showed good power and speed as he ran over, through and around Broncos defenders.

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said he was impressed with Penny, noting he ran hard.

“Just the way he runs,” the coach said of what he likes about the rookie. “He puts one cut on and he heads north.

“He’s got good speed and he’s got really good hands; I was surprised he dropped that one in the flat.”

Indeed, about the only obvious miscue for Penny was a dropped pass on a third-down play that would have been good enough for a fresh set of downs. Otherwise, his night went as well as he could have hoped, if not better than expected.

Though he knew the playing time he hadn’t received in the first three games was going to be there Thursday, Penny admitted he didn’t anticipate getting as much action as he did, adding it was fun.

“Stump Mitchell kind of told me I was going to get the ball a little bit to show what I can do,” he said, crediting the team’s running backs coach. “I’m glad I got the opportunity to showcase my ability and wear defenses down, get big runs and use those five or six-yard runs to wear defenses down.”

That’s Penny’s game, he said: running through arm tackles and making life difficult for defenses as games wear on.

“Powerful runner,” QB Matt Barkley said of Penny. “He runs hard downhill. I was telling him to keep pounding the rock because our line was giving a good push. They couldn’t stop us and he was breaking tackles.

“I thought he did a really good job tonight.”

Of course, Penny is not the first young running back to get the bulk of the work in the final preseason game, and generally speaking, that’s rarely a good sign for a player’s chances. Penny is undoubtedly on the roster bubble with his most likely destination — if still with the Cardinals — being the team’s practice squad.

With David Johnson, Chris Johnson, Andre Ellington and Stepfan Taylor virtually guaranteed to make the team, there does not appear to be much room for someone else.

“For him, and he’s done a good job on special teams, but it’s new for him,” Arians said of Penny’s chances. “Whereas Stepfan is one of our core guys, so that’ll be another of those decisions where (we ask), ‘Do we keep him versus a fifth corner or fifth safety?'”

With that being the case, all Penny could do is what he did, and that’s to go out and play well. If this was his only shot — his last shot — he can leave knowing he did what he could to make it a tough decision.

“It felt great; it felt really good just believing in your faith, believing in the transition that you make,” he said. “It feels good just to know that the fourth game you’re going to get a lot of carries, and to actually come through, it’s something like a movie. It was something big for me.”

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