Adrian Peterson A Game Time Decision Sunday
By Josh Hill
Fantasy football owners everywhere are hitting the internet hard in search of information regarding who to start and who to sit on Sunday. We’ll have a piece later this week letting you know who you should and who you shouldn’t start but when it comes to Adrian Peterson, no one is going to know if he’s hitting the field until Sunday.
The Minnesota VIkings open up their season at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and the decision on whether their $100 million running back will be on the field is still up in the air. Peterson vowed to play Week 1, but he’s still recovering from an severe left knee injury he suffered in Week 16 of last year and he’s not seen any contact since then.
The Vikings held Peterson out of all preseason drills that involved contact including most of the Vikings games, and when he did participate head coach Leslie Fraizer said anyone who breathed on him too closely would be cut.
“We recognize if he’s able to get in this first ballgame, it’ll be with limited exposure,” Frazier said. “We’ll talk about it as the week goes on and see how he’s doing and if it’s even a viable option to let him play.”
So the fact that he’ll be ready for full contact on Sunday is hard to believe, and it’s likely that he’ll either sit or see very limited action. Should Peterson re-injure his knee in the first week of the season, it not only derails any minor hope the Vikings have this year, but it seriously jeopardizes Peterson’s career potential.
“I’d love to have him out there, that goes without saying for our entire team,” Vikings center John Sullivan said. “But at the same time it’s out of our hands. I hope he is. But if not, we’ve got to go forward with the guys that are ready to go.”
An interesting footnote for Sunday: both Adrian Peterson and Maurice Jones-Drew are former Pro Bowlers thought to be in their prime — and both will be on the sidelines when they meet each other.