A deal has already been made to trade away freshly acquired running back Adrian Peterson from the New Orleans Saints. The Saints signed AP at the beginning of this season to help boost their running game and overall improve on a team that is ranked at the bottom of the National Football Leauge.
The deal at the beginning of the year seemed to make a lot of sense at first. Just about every team in the NFL would benefit from having a guy like Peterson in their backfield. But many questions had not been answered for how Peterson would fit in with the Saints. How would he get along with the offensive mind of Sean Payton and elite signal caller Drew Brees? How would he adapt to the high-quality passing attack formula and the complicated screen game that the Saints love to run and have run so well in years past?
Well, it only took four short weeks of playing to see that things weren't going to work out so well. On top of the vocal dispute, he has already had with Payton on the sideline that was made very clear on television, He has had only 27 rushing attempts with the Saints averaging only 3 yards a carry. What is even more astounding to see is that he has only caught two passes while he was in New Orleans. This all just proves that he did not cooperate well with the playing calling of Sean Payton and also he did not adapt his game at all to the offense that the Saints have had set long before he arrived.
This move was great for AP because of the fit in Arizona. The running game is a lot different in Arizona as they are a team that loves to run the football and would like to stay balanced in their offensive attack. Bruce Arians has been looking for someone to help in the running game after losing David Johnson early in the season and Peterson has the right mold to fit the job. It is also very obvious that Arizona is a lot more of a playoff contender than the Saints will be this year due to their team being way better on the defensive end of the field.
Adrian Peterson is far from washed up in this league. If he can stay healthy and play an entire season for the Cardinals after figuring out their system, everyone will soon see a way different Adrian Peterson than the one we saw last year and this year in New Orleans. Arians has also had a lot of luck taking running backs that seemed to be washed up like Chris Johnson and turning them into very pivotal parts of their offense. AP has had a way better career and Chris Johnson anyway so it should be very exciting to see what brilliant offensive mind of Bruce Arians can do to get Peterson involved immediately and help change the Cardinals season around.
Only time will tell if this move will help Adrian Peterson continue his career of playing football. Personally, I would be holding on to AP in my fantasy leagues or I would be scurrying to pick him up. The chances of him taking off in Arizona and having an above average season are through the roof.