Adrian Peterson Visiting the New England Patriots Today
Joe Johnson
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From the time that it appeared that Adrian Peterson’s days in purple and gold were numbered, the most logical landing place for the 32 year old Minnesota legend was and has been the New England Patriots (At least in my mind). As all sports fans know, once a superstar reaches a certain age without a ring, they typically jump to whichever dynasty is active in an (mostly sad) attempt to win a championship. On top of that, Boston has been the landing spot for many Minnesota super stars over the years, from Kevin Garnett to Randy Moss to even David Ortiz, the running joke is that Minnesota is Boston’s minor leagues. Laugh it up you Irish bastards, laugh it up.
The Patriots are this generations dynasty, being a perennial Super Bowl contender since I was in college over ten years ago. And while they’ve been consistently amazing, they’ve never really had a super star running back (Or in some instances a running game, at all). You can get by without one when you have the best coach/quarterback duo in NFL history. However, the Patriots team that came back from the largest deficit in Super Bowl history to win it’s fifth championship in February did have some decent to good running backs on it’s roster, from the bell-cow back (LaGarrette Blount) to the pass catching back (James White) to the general “Other Back” (Dion Lewis). James White was arguably the MVP of that game (Just ask Tom Brady), even. However, the Pats have yet to resign Blount, so there is decent speculation that the Pats are using Peterson’s visit mostly as a bargaining chip to resign him.
How? Why? Well, if you’re familiar with Bill Belichick at all you’d know two things about him. That he LOVES hoodies and that he makes Vikings coach Mike Zimmer look like Wendy Williams (Meaning, he’s incredibly tight lipped) when it comes to the media. Apparently, the Peterson meeting was leaked to the media by the Patriots themselves, which most likely means that they want someone to know about the meeting in the first place and that person is obviously Blount. That’s not to say that Peterson wouldn’t be a good fit on their roster, he would just be a lot more expensive than Blount and some believe that he would require a change to how things are done (Namely in the amount of attempts he’d be given). I actually think that they could plug Peterson into their roster without making many, if any changes, considering they already have the pass catching and “other” back (Other meaning a blocking, play action back) and the fact that Blount averaged almost 19 carries per game in 2016 a number that Peterson would require.
Stay tuned to the site for news about that meeting later tonight or tomorrow, but I personally don’t believe that the Pats will end up with Peterson but do think that he’d be a better fit than most people realize. If he was able to return to his pre-2015 level of fumbling (That year off in 2014 really hurt him so I’m not too sure he’ll be any better in 2017) I do believe that he can still be a great asset to any number of teams, but considering the fact that the Pats benched Blount in the Super Bowl after his second quarter fumble I can’t imagine that they’re seriously interested in a 32 year old Peterson who is coming off of another lengthy time away from football. But, you never know… Peterson very well could take a decent pay cut to sign with THE contender, and considering the fact that he came out recently to angrily deny that he was asking for $8 million a year, maybe he’s really just looking for that ring (Or if his wish list of teams is any indication, just nicer weather).
Honestly though, if this doesn’t pan out for Peterson I am beginning to believe that he may return to the Vikings after all. I will write about why most likely tonight (If he leaves Boston without a contract) or tomorrow, so again, stay tuned!