Adrian Peterson got rave reviews from his Vikings teammates regarding his physical condition when he returned to the fold this spring, but it was still a long time since the running back was taking part in full practices with the team when training camp got underway.
It probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that Peterson wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment he stepped back onto the field this week. In a conversation with Marshall Faulk of NFL Media on Tuesday, Peterson explained what was missing in his first practice of the year.
“I kind of started off slow the first practice, 9-on-7,” Peterson said. “It was decent but really didn’t feel as explosive as I would have liked so I kind of had to grind, normally I do my hulk, little grind, wake myself up and felt a little spark and kind of got back into the groove. After that I feel pretty good. That hunger is there. I’m sure as we go through camp, get these pads on, it’ll just wake up even more.”
Peterson’s already shared his goal of 2,500 rushing yards for the season and told Faulk that he’s aiming to do “something the eyes haven’t seen before” in 2015, but none of that’s possible without knocking off almost a year’s worth of rust. That process is underway and the Vikings will be hoping none is left by the time Week One rolls around.