By Jordan Long
Running back Adrian Peterson is a free agent. He is not ready to hang it up from the NFL yet. Now should be the time to retire.
Peterson has been in the NFL since 2007 when Minnesota drafted him with the 7th pick in the 2007 Draft. He made an immediate impact with 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns. That year Peterson won Rookie Of The Year honors. He would go on to break the 1,000-yard mark with Minnesota 5 more times.
His top season in the NFL occurred in the 2012 season. Peterson became the 7th running back in NFL history to surpass the 2,000-yard rushing mark, totaling 2,097 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Peterson won MVP of the NFL that year.
Peterson bounced around to two teams in 2017. First was New Orleans. He wasn’t a fit in Sean Payton’s offense. Peterson rushed for 81 yards. On October 10, 2017, Arizona traded for him, sending the Saints a 6th-round draft pick. Arizona was hoping this would improve their running game.
Peterson suited up in 6 games for Arizona. He ran for 448 yards and 2 touchdowns. Arizona decided to release Peterson on March 24, 2018, meaning he was a free agent.
Peterson spent 2018 and 2019 with Washington. In 2019, Peterson had 1,042 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. The next year his production dropped off with 898 rushing yards. Peterson still found the endzone 5 times. Washington, though, let him go on September 4th, 2020.
On September 6, 2020, Peterson found another home, Detroit. With the Lions, Peterson totaled 604 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns. Those are pretty good numbers, but he was again a free agent after the season.
In 2021, he was with two teams, Tennessee and Seattle. Tennessee signed him to the practice squad on November 2, 2021. He was called up to the main roster and suited up in 3 games, rushing for 82 yards. The Titans waived him on November 23, 2021.
Seattle picked him up on December 1, 2021. It didn’t work out as Peterson showed his age with just 16 rushing yards.
Last year, Peterson was anticipating a call to keep his NFL career going. Teams didn’t want to take a chance on a 37-year-old running back. Peterson is still wanting to play but has yet to receive a call.
According to CBSsports.com, Peterson said, “Mentally, I haven’t officially hung it up. We’ll see what happens. My mindset is, if God’s willing, maybe an opportunity presents itself and maybe it happens this season. I’ll go from there. But [if] nothing happens this season, for sure, I will be hanging it up.”
Teams may shy away from him because of his age at 38. Peterson though should hang up his cleats and retire from the game. Even without a Super Bowl ring, Peterson is one of the best running backs to ever play the game. Peterson totaled 14,918 rushing yards, 5th most in NFL history. His average yards per rush stands at 4.6. For rushing touchdowns, he is 4th all-time with 120. Looking at those numbers, he has a case to be in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. Peterson has nothing left to prove in the NFL. The time is now for him to walk away.
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