With news that future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson is coming to town for a visit, the Washington Redskins should pass.
The Washington Redskins have suffered a ridiculous amount of the injuries at the running back this preseason. It started with rookie Derrius Guice tearing his ACL in the opener, and he is now out for the season. In Week 2, Samaje Perine and Byron Marshall both went down with ankle injuries and will miss time.
So, naturally, it was only a matter of time before the Redskins began to call veteran running backs. One of those veterans happens to be a future Hall-of-Famer in Adrian Peterson. Well, Washington will bring Peterson in for a visit on Monday.
While there is no guarantee the Redskins will sign Peterson, as they also had Jamaal Charles in town, they are likely going to sign one — or maybe two — backs this week.
The Redskins have contacted Adrian Peterson and will bring him in Monday, source said.
— John Keim (@john_keim) August 19, 2018
Peterson should not be one of them.
This is not a knock on Peterson. He’s one of the best of all-time. However, at 33 years old and coming off back-to-back seasons where Peterson has combined to rush for 601 yards on 193 rushes. That’s an average of 3.1 yards per attempt. The Redskins already have Rob Kelley to average three yards per attempt.
And to make matters worse, Washington, behind venerable offensive line coach, Bill Callahan, prefers more of a zone-blocking scheme than the traditional downhill power-running scheme that Peterson thrives in.
Peterson doesn’t fit Washington’s run scheme at all. He has to be in a downhill power run game. The Redskins are masters at running zone schemes. I don’t get why front offices don’t match up schemes to players. https://t.co/doLWuxiSJJ
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) August 19, 2018
Washington also brought in Orleans Darkwa for a visit on Sunday. The 26-year old Darkwa had some decent moments with the Giants over the last two years. While he isn’t going to be the solution to Washington’s problems, he can help more than Peterson at this point. And he’s also much more likely to be content to be a part of a rotation, too.
Peterson didn’t take too kindly to being a part of New Orleans’ rotation last season when Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara were both clearly better.
If this were two years ago, it would be a worthwhile addition for the Redskins. Now, they should pass and look to younger options to fill in until Perine and Marshall both get back in the rotation. However, this is the Redskins so you can never rule anything out.