Minnesota Vikings: Can Adrian Peterson finish strong?
By Luke Sims
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is so good that if he hung up his cleats right now, he’d still probably get into the Hall of Fame. How much more can he add to his legacy?
As far as NFL offenses go, the Minnesota Vikings are a bit of a holdover from an era gone by. They run the ball well with Adrian Peterson as the bell-cow back, and they use the passing game to complement the rushing attack.
By comparison, almost every other football team in the NFL is searching for a franchise passer to build around so they can be the second, third, and fourth comings of the “Greatest Show on Turf” or whichever field they happen to play on.
The Vikes aren’t completely removed from the passing-game obsession, having spent a couple of years developing the hyper-accurate Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. But over his first couple of seasons, Bridgewater has clearly operated as a supplement to what Peterson can do on the ground. His 2014 quarterback peers (Johnny Manziel discounted), Blake Bortles and Derek Carr, are both going the more traditional, modern NFL route with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders, respectively.
For now – and possibly as long as Adrian Peterson can remain fresh – the Minnesota Vikings offense is going to flow through the running back position. The Vikes have Peterson locked up for the next two seasons, 2016 and 2017, and the question lingering over the future Hall of Famer is, can he finish strong?
There are few running backs who are able to carry a team into their 30s. If anybody can do it, it’s like Peterson. At age 30 this past season he dominated the NFL with 327 attempts, 1487 yards, and a whopping 11 touchdowns. Peterson was just as untouchable in year 30 as he was back in his 20s.
Can he keep it up?
Can he keep posting ridiculous numbers?
Can Peterson continue to make opposing defenses look silly when they miss him and hurting when the RB decides to run them over?
More importantly, will the Minnesota Vikings let him?
NFL teams are not in the business of keeping a player playing simply because he has been great for them in the past (Peyton Manning’s intriguing last Super Bowl not withstanding). If Peterson falters in the coming seasons, will the Vikings not hesitate to switch over to other players like Jerick McKinnon? That same scenario was posed over a The Daily Norseman, and it’s well worth considering as the Vikings eye 2016 and Peterson keeps his eyes on the record books while being a workhorse for Minnesota.
The problem that Peterson faces is that there’s no question he’ll eventually degrade under the impressive physical load he has endured through his career. It isn’t a question of “if” it’s a question of “when” and if the Vikings transition to focused on an offense flowing through Teddy Bridgewater or an offense supplementing Peterson in the backfield, then he’ll find his opportunities to finish strong, severely handicapped.
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The Minnesota Vikings are playing football from another era. It’s a gritty, determined version of the sport and it’s a truly beautiful thing to watch. But there’s only so much longer they can do that before Peterson finally starts to show his age. The Vikings are going to start transitioning away from their stud running back in the coming seasons.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem promising for a running back who will likely want to finish his career as the best to ever play his position. It’ll be tough for Adrian Peterson to finish strong, but he’ll undoubtedly give it a hell of an effort, just as we’ve come to expect from him in the past.