If Adrian Peterson winds up being a training camp cut for the Redskins, he should land on the radar of these four teams.
After appearing to be just about done in 2017, a season he split between the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals, Adrian Peterson has had a bit of a resurgence. He topped 1,000 yards on the ground in 2018, his first season with the Washington Redskins, then he averaged a solid 4.3 yards per carry last year.
The Redskins picked up Peterson’s option for 2020, with a $2.25 million base salary. But they’ve added to their running back room since then, signing Peyton Barber in free agency and drafting versatile playmaker Antonio Gibson in the third round of April’s draft. Derrius Guice is also returning from a knee injury, and 2019 fourth-round pick Bryce Love is in line to be ready to go after working his way back from a torn ACL as a rookie.
Gibson and Guice (assuming he’s healthy) are locks to be on the Redskins’ 53-man roster to start the season. That leaves Barber, Love and Peterson to compete for two spots, and Peterson does not contribute on special teams if that becomes a factor.
So as Zach Links of Pro Football Rumors opines, it’s not out of the question that Peterson winds up being a training camp cut for Washington. They would take on $750,000 in dead money by cutting him, but clear $2.48 million in cap space.
Peterson needs 1,054 yards to pass Barry Sanders for fourth on the all-time rushing list. That may require playing two more seasons, since he hasn’t reached that mark since 2015, but at this point playing at age-36 in 2021 can’t be ruled out.
If Peterson is a training camp cut, these four teams should consider signing him.
4. Kansas City Chiefs
If the Chiefs’ offense has a weak spot, it’s the running game. They were 23rd in the league in rushing last year (93.1 yards per game), while averaging 4.2 yards per carry (20th in the league). They drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the first round to push and possibly usurp Damien Williams, which will help. But in a certain light Williams is not a guarantee to make it to Week 1, as the Chiefs only picked up his option for 2020 and it’s realistic to get out of. The team would clear $2.175 million in cap space by cutting him, with a dead money hit of $533,334.
Even at this stage of his career, Peterson is probably a better pure runner than Williams and Edwards-Helaire can fill the pass-catching void. If the Chiefs would ever consider making a trade for Leonard Fournette, Peterson is a similar back and would come a bit cheaper for this year.