Having watched it again this morning, Penning has certainly maintained a good level on the run blocking. It was a bit iffy week 1, better v Arizona, and good again v Tennessee. Not perfect by any means but good enough to start for sure. That's good, especially in a scheme which emphasis the run and for which the pass is built off of the run.
His pass pro, ignoring gimme plays, is still suspect but perhaps slightly better. I saw him using his hands a bit more which is a nice improvement - more often then not he was just giving DE's his chest in earlier games. His anchor is still dodgy and I noticed that he stops his feet on contact too often/ too early. You have to maintain active feet throughout the rep and as soon as you stop your feet moving, you're going to slip off the block. Inside moves still give him trouble but I think he's feeling it a bit quicker now which helps him re-direct faster, though in my view still not fast enough. His footwork/ weight distribution isn't terribly clean which hampers his ability to re-direct more quickly/ easily. A real mixed bag and much of it not great. Expect to see a few really ugly reps though when he's left 1 v 1 on a deep drop. But, there has been improvement and that gives you a little hope.
To sum up, Penning's run blocking looks like that of a bona fide starter and perhaps with time, a plus starter. Pass pro looks sub par but there has been some slow improvement and perhaps he's now inching away from being 'not a viable starter' to being 'less than ideal' but can work with it/ around it.
Last year I said he would probably need until mid season to really settle in and he never quite managed to make it that far. Maybe this year by game 3-5 he'll be solid after working out some more of the kinks in his pass pro, and further solidifying his run blocking.