Adrian Peterson has been a force ever since his rookie year, a season which saw him set the record for most rushing yards in a game with 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers. In addition to being a hall of fame talent, he is a phenomenal person. I've had the pleasure of meeting him a few times at the NFL Experience, he's a genuinely kind person and one of my top five favorite players which is why it hurts so much to write this article. All Day has a long hard road to recovery ahead. Some people point to Brady and Welker's recoveries from similar injuries but the thing is that's a quarterback and a receiver, a runningback is a whole different world. Peterson's knee has to be 100%, what makes him so good is he has that strong knee and can run and cut and hammer people without hesitation. It's gonna take a while for his knee to be declared 100%, I've heard reports and I believe that he has a good shot at starting 2012 on the PUP list which would mean he'd at least miss the first six games of the season. When he does get back I think he'll be a shell of the back we've seen and it'll take a while before he has confidence in his knee again. This injury usually takes a season to fully get back to normal anyway, so accounting for that Peterson would be 28 at the start of the 2013 season. A lot of runningbacks with healthy knees begin to wear down around that age in the first place especially a runner that's taken as much of a pounding as AP has. If Adrian was younger I'd be more inclined to believe we could possibly see a full comeback but at the wrong side of 28 don't count on it. In fantasy I suggest avoiding him at all costs for the upcoming season. This is a sad thing as Peterson was a once in a generation runningback and a player you'd pay to see. Now we'll turn our eyes on the Vikings to see how much they believe in Gerhart and perhaps they'll even give Trent Richardson a look. I hope Peterson proves me wrong and comes back 100% but it looks more likely that we've seen the best of All Day. As with most good things they go by too fast but we all got to see greatness and greatness for however long or short it last stays with people and this will be a player we tell our grand kids about. Best of luck to Adrian Peterson (the best runningback of my generation).
- Michael Gibson
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