Adrian Peterson will need an injury to facilitate hometown finale

Adrian Peterson would love to play in his adopted hometown of Houston, but it’s going to take an injury at running back for the Texans to make that happen.

It’s possible that Adrian Peterson has enough left in the tank to help an NFL team in 2018. Where you fall on that debate largely depends on what you think of his workout videos on social media this summer. What’s not up for debate is the fact that he’s going to need help to make an impact for the Houston Texans.

At 27 years of age, Lamar Miller is squarely in his prime as an NFL running back. He was decent for the Texans last season but certainly wasn’t great. A yards per carry average of just 3.7 on 238 carries is nothing to write home about. Still, it must be noted that Deshaun Watson’s Week 7 injury took a lot of running room away from him. He’s a solid bet to bounce back in 2018 if everyone stays healthy.

There are slight questions about who will back up Miller when the regular season begins on Week 1. If all goes according to plan, that responsibility will go to D’Onta Foreman. He played 10 games as a rookie before having his campaign cut short with a torn Achilles.

The team remain “hopeful” that the former Texas star will recover in time to be a full participant in training camp. That outlook might be slightly optimistic, but it still means Foreman should be ready to go when the bullets start flying in the regular season. If that happens, there simply isn’t room for Peterson in the Texans’ running back room.

Bill O’Brien isn’t going to bring an ego like that into his dressing room to stand on the sidelines week after week. The only way the Texans will sign Peterson is if they really need him to be a battering ram for their offense. The only way that’s going to happen is if either Miller or Foreman go down with a serious injury.

In fairness, this seems to be the only way Peterson is going to find his way back into the NFL this season. The drama that comes along with signing him is going to keep teams away for the time being. NFL executives may change their mind about Peterson’s baggage when injury pokes a massive hole in their running back depth chart.

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Expect the Adrian Peterson free agency watch to continue until some unfortunate team suffers a major injury at running back. Then, they can bring in the former Vikings star as an imperfect stopgap. It’s a sad situation for a player who used to be one of the most dominating offensive weapons in the NFL.