The last time that Vikings running back Adrian Peterson carried the ball during a preseason game came in 2011 and the last time he stepped on the field at all in the summer came in 2013, but both could change this year.
Peterson didn’t have a good game in the season opener last year, rushing 15 times for 31 yards, and said that he thinks things may have gone better if he’d gotten his feet wet during the preseason. Peterson was on a more extended break in 2015 after missing the final 15 weeks of the 2014 season while on the exempt list, but it left him feeling like he might want to get a little work in before August is out.
“I feel like getting out there and playing a little bit,” Peterson said, via the Pioneer Press. “It’s something that once that time comes around, I’ll have a better feel for, like, ‘Hey, I need to get out there just to kind of get the legs moving and get the pads [on] a little bit.’ I can tell you, though, I’m definitely more itching towards playing a little more in the preseason than I have the past seven, eight years.”
Preseason carries haven’t been part of Peterson’s life since his 2011 torn ACL, but the desire to get off to a fast start in the regular season could outweigh the concern about an injury in an exhibition game this time around.