Adrian Peterson for a stretch of time was the best running back in the NFL and arguably the best player in the league as a whole. Now he’s on the verge of becoming a free agent.
Peterson, 31, is a seven-time Pro Bowler, five-time first-team All-Pro, and three-time rushing yards leader. But more importantly, Peterson won the NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year in 2012 after he won the Rookie of the Year award in 2007.
The running back was originally drafted in 2007 by the Vikings with the seventh overall pick out of Oklahoma. At times it looked like he’d spend his entire career in purple and gold, but those times could be over.
“Adrian is an important part of the Minnesota Vikings organization,” said Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman in a statement. “We will continue to have conversations with his representatives and leave our future options open while determining what is best for both parties moving forward.”
Of course, Peterson could return to the Vikings, but he could also sign elsewhere. One place the running back may go is New York. A couple weeks ago before the news came out he’d be an unrestricted free agent, Peterson tweeted out this interesting thought, presumably not about San Francisco’s signing of Mark Melancon this winter.
The Giants been making some interesting moves.
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) February 16, 2017
It’s possible Peterson already knew he wouldn’t have his option exercised, so the idea of him starting to think about where he would take his talents isn’t out of the question.
The Giants’ starting running back for the past three seasons has been Rashad Jennings. Here’s a comparison of Peterson vs. Jennings over the last three seasons:
Peterson:
2014 – 1 game, 0 touchdowns, 75 rushing yards
2015 – 16 games, 11 touchdowns, 1,485 rushing yards
2016 – 3 games, 0 touchdowns, 72 rushing yards
Jennings:
2014 – 11 games, 4 touchdowns, 639 rushing yards
2015 – 16 games, 3 touchdowns, 863 rushing yards
2016 – 13 games, 3 touchdowns, 593 rushing yards
The one thing that really sticks out is that Peterson was suspended in 2014 and injured for a large part of the 2016 season. But what also sticks out is that in his one full season over the past three years in 2015, Peterson had more rushing touchdowns than Jennings had over the past three seasons combined.
On top of those facts and figures, Jennings had a total of 2,095 rushing yards over the last three seasons compared to Peterson’s 1,632. That’s not a lot more for Jennings, considering he played in 20 more games than Peterson.
In the end, it seems like Peterson might not necessarily be a bad fit for New York over Jennings, but the only issue is his health. There’s no denying that when Peterson is healthy, he’s one of the best running backs in the league. It’s just that staying on the field was an issue in 2016 for Peterson, and he also missed time back in 2011 after tearing his ACL.
Before he played in just one game in 2014, Peterson had played in fewer than 14 games just once during the first seven seasons of his career and that was back in 2011 when he appeared in 12.
With Ezekiel Elliott entrenched in the Dallas Cowboys’ backfield, the old rumor of Peterson going to the Cowboys seems like it won’t happen. Luckily for Peterson, there are other teams that could use him. The one thing that could end up hurting him is there are a few star running backs in the draft this year, namely Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, and Christian McCaffrey.
Peterson will land on his feet somewhere – this isn’t the end of his career. It could be back in Minnesota, it could be in New York, or it could be somewhere else. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up coming down between the Vikings and Giants.
