Adrian Peterson is suddenly back on everyone’s radar, and all it took was a broken foot.
Early Monday morning, the Tennessee Titans announced that in the wake of potentially losing Derrick Henry for the rest of the season, they have signed the veteran runningback to their practice squad, with the expectation that he will later be added to the Titans’ active gameday roster.
Week 8
On Sunday’s Week 8 game against the Indianapolis Colts, Henry suffered an apparent broken bone in his foot, despite finishing the game. Head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed that Henry would be getting surgery on Tuesday morning, adding that he wasn’t going to “put a timeline” on when he will be able to return.
“I know that he will do everything he can to work himself back to be able to help this football team and whenever that is, that’s when it will be.” Vrabel said in a press conference on Monday.
Surgery Ahead
That being said, Henry is expected to miss 6-10 weeks to recover from the surgery. Since the Titans will potentially have to play the rest of the season without their star rusher, they acted quickly by signing Peterson to their practice squad.
Peterson has spent the first eight weeks of this NFL season as a free agent. The 2012 NFL MVP, Pro Bowler, seven-time All-Pro, former 2,000-yard rusher seems like he is extremely excited and honored to join the Tennessee Titans, who are currently first in the AFC South and are looking pretty sharp.
Back In the Game
“It feels good to get back into football movement and to sign with a contender,” Peterson said, “We have big shoes to fill for Derrick Henry, who I feel was the front-runner for MVP, but I’m looking forward to contributing to the running back room and helping the Titans to win the division and to chase the ultimate goal of winning a championship.”
This will be Peterson’s fourteenth season in the NFL. He last played for the Detroit Lions in 2020, when he rushed for 604 yards on 156 carries and scoring seven touchdowns. At 36 years old, Peterson has 14,820 total rushing yards in his 14-year career, a mere 449 yards fewer than Barry Sanders for fourth-most rushing yards of all time.
The veteran runningback spent the first ten seasons of his career with the Minnesota Vikings. Since then, Peterson has played for the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals, the Washington Football Team, the Detroit Lions, and now the Tennessee Titans.
Championship Potential
For the first time in a long time, Peterson now has the opportunity to be a part of a team with real, tangible championship potential. Although he may not be young anymore, Peterson offers a wide variety of experience and an impressive amount of success that younger players certainly lack.
I think Peterson can become a valuable asset to this Titans team, especially if Derrick Henry is out of the picture for the rest of the season. We’ll see how Tennessee adjusts after the loss of Henry and how Peter acclimates to this already well-established team, but I’m willing to bet it works out in the Titans’ favor.
