Among the many things we’re looking forward to finding out during the 2017 season is how running back Adrian Peterson fits in with the Saints after spending the first 10 years of his career with the Vikings.
There’s been a steady stream of laudatory words coming from New Orleans about how Peterson has looked on the field this spring, but such talk is commonplace around the NFL during the offseason even when the subject has achieved less than Peterson has over the course of his career. The proof will start to come in September and there are still those who don’t think a 32-year-old back coming off his latest knee injury will be able to thrive in his new home.
Peterson told Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report that he has harbored some of those doubts as well, but that he’s using both the internal and external uncertainty as fuel for the upcoming season.
“Yes, the doubt motivates me,” Peterson said. “I’d be lying to say it doesn’t. You want to do things people say you can’t do. You might go through a stage when you doubt yourself. It’s an everyday battle mentally. But if you let anything manifest, it can hurt you. So I always try to keep those thoughts down.”
With Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara on the roster, the Saints have backfield options in the event Peterson doesn’t recapture his old form but the last few months have provided plenty of evidence that neither they nor Peterson believe that will be the case.