There was a point in his career when it would have seemed laughable to suggest that Adrian Peterson would be playing a complementary role to another back, but we’re no longer at that point.
Peterson is coming off an ineffective and injury-filled final season with the Vikings and lingered on the market for a couple of months before signing with the Saints on Tuesday. That sets him up as an alternative to Mark Ingram in the New Orleans backfield, which is a role that led to 155 touches for Tim Hightower last season.
The Saints aren’t likely to use Peterson in precisely the same way that they used Hightower and they aren’t detailing their plans for public consumption, but coach Sean Payton did suggest there’s already a vision in place for how Peterson will be used.
“I think the role will be very clear and defined,” Payton said, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “It’s a tough, long 16-week season. I think that he’s someone that certainly will be able to complement Mark. Those guys are different in some ways, and yet we feel like we’ve added another quality player. It goes without saying, [Peterson is] a guy that eventually is going to be in the Hall of Fame. But I think — we think — that he’s got more years in his career, so we’re excited for that to happen.”
One possible difference between how the two backs will be used could come in the passing game. Ingram has 96 catches over the last two seasons and it has never been a strong suit of Peterson’s game, so that should factor into that clear definition once the Saints are in position to share it with the league at large.