Is Former Sooner Adrian Peterson’s NFL Career at an End?
By Chip Rouse
Former Oklahoma All-American Adrian Peterson, not too many seasons ago considered the premier running back in the NFL, is a man looking for a place to play in 2017.
The four-time NFL All-Pro who spent 10 mostly sensational seasons with the Minnesota Vikings was released recently by the Vikings and is now a free agent and looking for a new football home where he could extend his professional career.
Several NFL teams have been reported to be interested in considering Peterson’s employment for the coming season, but as of this writing no one has taken that extra step to actively seek out and sign the two-time NFL rushing leader.
Eddie Lacy of the Green Bay Packers and Latavius Murray, formerly of the Oakland Raiders, are two notable running backs who have changed teams this offseason and others like Jamaal Charles (formerly with the Kansas City Chiefs) and LaGarrette Blount (let go by the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots) remain free agents, along with Peterson.
Two other market factors that are working against Peterson are 1) the declining market value for running backs as compared with other skill positions that are considered more critical in the pass-oriented NFL offenses, plus 2) this year’s draft is believed to be stocked with a number of outstanding running-back prospects with much less wear and tear and a higher upside (including two top running back talents from Oklahoma).
Peterson will turn 32 this month, which is considered on the long side of a running back’s life cycle in the National Football League. No player absorbs more physical punishment on a game-by-game, year-by-year basis than the position of running back.
And as much of an uncanny physical specimen, in terms of pure strength, speed and power, that Peterson has proven himself to be over the past decade, he also has suffered a couple of serious knee injuries in the last five seasons that have taken there toll on his effectiveness and impact as an elite NFL running back.
Like it or not, it is something that happens to the best of them, even those with the extraordinary strength, skills and endurance that have always been the defining qualities of Adrian Peterson, the football player.
Peterson has run for close to 12,000 yards in his 10-year NFL career, all with the Vikings, who selected the 2004 Heisman Trophy finalist with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.
It is hard to project where Peterson might end up – especially for the large salary he is sure to be seeking. The Vikings reportedly were paying the former All-Pro around $8 million a year. While that is not the highest amount paid an NFL running back, it is a large sum for a player that seems to be in the twilight of what has been an outstanding college and NFL career.
There are those who believe that the Vikings were a bit hasty in dismissing a veteran player such as Peterson who has been a superstar performer in the NFL, has given so much to the organization and for most of his 10 seasons was the face of the franchise. To be perfectly honest, however, there were misgivings and discontent on both sides.
I don’t believe Peterson’s career is over, nor do I for one second believe he is willing to give it up.
He will play one, maybe two or three more years, and probably with a couple of teams. But to think he is the same player he once was before undergoing two serious knee surgeries would be unrealistic and foolhardy.
The time for the player we remember as AD – short for “All-Day “Peterson – is much closer to the end than to even the prime of his career.
There is no shame in that reality, only a lasting legacy that will not soon be forgotten.