Mark Ingram has said since Adrian Peterson signed with the Saints that he was fine sharing the backfield with one of the best running backs in history.
And this week, for the first time, they’ll actually share time on the field together.
Ingram was held out of the first two weeks of OTAs with an unspecified issue, and when he returned last week, Peterson was given a week off to rest. With this week’s minicamp, they’ll finally be out there at the same time, giving us the first chance to see the division of labor.
“We help each other,” Ingram said, via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. “He’s new to the system, so I can help him with some play calls and small nuances within the offense. And he’s an elite runner, one of the best that we’ve seen in this game. So just to see how he runs, how he practices, makes us all better.”
That being said, there’s still the requisite respect from Ingram, who met Peterson when he was still in college.
“But just to be there in the same room with him, pick his brain, see how he practices, see how he works, that’s pretty cool,” Ingram said. “He’s a Hall of Fame player, he’s been practicing good, he’s looking fast, looking good. So [we’ll] just keep practicing, keep getting better, and hopefully it translates good to the season.”
Ingram having no problems with Peterson’s presence is helpful, especially with the way people are gushing about Peterson so far.