Adrian Peterson is Expected to Sign With Saints
After ten years with the Minnesota Vikings, running back Adrian Peterson is expected to join the Saints in New Orleans. Minnesota decided to bring in Latavius Murray to replace Peterson. The team also decline Peterson's 2017 option, which left him to be one of the most popular free agents for 2017. To this day he remains unsigned, but the Saints are close to agreeing on a deal with Peterson. Per Ian Rapoport, he is scheduled to make in the neighborhood of $3 million in 2017.
Peterson was drafted in 2007. He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy vote in 2004. As soon as he was drafted he made a huge impact during his rookie season. His first season he finished with 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns and took home the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Peterson has been invited to the Pro Bowl four years in a row (2007-2010).
His best season included 2,097 rushing yards, nine yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season record.
Peterson missed all but one game of the 2014 season after he was hit with child abuse charges. He took a plea bargain deal to play the following year. In 2016, his workload was severely limited by his lingering knee injuries. Peterson only averaged 1.9 yards per carry that year.
It is hard to predict how productive Peterson could be with the Saints. At 32-years-old, it is harder to recover from the brutal hits players take in the NFL. My guess is that he would be a change-of-pace back and only play a small percentage of snaps. They still have Tim Hightower.
