Fantasy Football: Adrian Peterson worthy of a start in Week 1

Adrian Peterson is set to be the Washington Redskins starting running back in Week 1. He’s worthy of a start in fantasy football as well.

The Washington Redskins were in desperate need of a running back after Derrius Guice went down with a torn ACL in the first week of the preseason. Insert Adrian Peterson. Not did he make it on time to help the Redskins, but fantasy football teams as well. Now you could argue that Peterson is too old, or doesn’t have enough reps with the Redskins. There are. however, strong arguments for Peterson as well

First is his lone game this preseason, when he looked absolutely fantastic. While it was just a preseason game, it showed there’s plenty left in the tank.

Then of course, there’s the fact that Peterson simply isn’t human. The man returned from an ACL injury after 260 days and ran for 2,097 yards in 2012. Ridiculous. Although production has been down and injuries have surfaced over the last two years, this always has to be in the back of your head. Peterson’s recovered before and can do it again.

After that, there’s Washington’s situation at the running back position. They don’t seem to trust Samaje Perine or Rob Kelley too much. So Peterson should get the bulk of the carries. Third down back Chris Thompson is loved (rightfully — the guy’s a beast), but has a ton of injury concerns himself.

Thompson is coming off a fractured fibula from Week 11 of last season. While he’s listed as 100% ready to go, don’t be surprised if the Redskins give him a slightly-smaller role in Week 1. Even if that isn’t the case, should any kind of tweak happen, Washington could pull the plug for the game and keep him out.

So Peterson’s already set to get the heaviest workload and could see time even on third down and receiving opportunities.

Finally, there’s his nose for the end zone. 2017 was the first season of Peterson’s career that saw more-than 37 rushing attempts and less than 10 touchdowns. There’s always a good chance he’ll find a way to punch one in, even if it’s just goal line work.

Adrian Peterson shouldn’t be your RB1 heading into Week 1 this season. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel comfortable starting him this week though.