Shoulder injuries plagued parts of Chad Pennington's time in the NFL, but late in his career he had a unique way of physically training to ensure his body was just as sharp as his mind.
"We went back to combine testing," Pennington said on "The Official Jets Podcast." In 2008, at 32 -years -old, Pennington made a change with how he trained, working with Charlie Petrone in Knoxville, TN. Petrone has trained professional athletes for over 30 years and most recently worked with Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
When Pennington and Petrone worked together in 2008 they evaluated when he was at his best physically. They landed on Pennington's combine metrics when he was listed at 230 pounds and ran a 4.8 40-yard dash.
"We literally went back to training for those numbers," Pennington said.
Because a player's "availability" is often his "best ability," Pennington was focused on making sure his body could keep up as he aged.
"Because through the season, you feel like you're trying to hold on physically and you're never 100 percent after the first day of training camp," Pennington said. "However, the closer you can be to 100 percent, the more confidence you're going to have in your physical ability because your mind is continuously improving, but physically you're trying to hold on."
Throughout the season Pennington would go through combine testing every week to make sure his body could withstand the demands of the season.
"I would run a 40 on Tuesday, I would run a shuttle, I would do a vertical jump," said Pennington who was successful at nearing his original combine numbers. "That let me know I'm not at peak condition because we're into the season, however, about 90 percent, that's pretty sweet. What I didn't want to do is fall off the cliff and be 60 percent."
In 2008, he was named the Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in his career. The only other player to win that award twice is Bengals QB Joe Burrow.
Pennington's biggest strength throughout his career was his mind, which he called his "magic sauce." He dedicated himself to fully learn the quarterback position and the intricacies of different situations.
"It's not just about dropping back and letting it rip," said Pennington, who believed his biggest advantages were understanding timing, being accurate and ball placement. "I took that part of the game with a great sense of pride of trying to learn that. I really wanted to be an extra coach or an extension of the coach on the field to where my teammates could just play."
Now, Pennington is the head football coach at Sayre School in Lexington, KY. He recently turned 50 and was also inducted into the state's Pro Football Hall of Fame along with a fellow former Jets player, Bilal Powell.
