On Monday, we posted a radio interview that Dash Radio had done with Minnesota Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson. During that interview, the Vikings’ all-time leading rusher said that his vision was to return for the Vikings’ Week 16 contest at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers.
Peterson and the Vikings took the first step towards that goal today, as the team officially designated him for return from injured reserve and announced that he would begin practicing with the team starting today.
The team has not yet announced a corresponding roster move to go along with Peterson’s return from IR. They don’t have to make a move until they officially activate him and add him to the 53-man roster. By NFL rule, they have 21 days to make that decision, but the signs seem to be pointing towards Peterson returning for the Week 16 matchup.
Peterson was fairly unproductive in the seven quarters he played before injuring his meniscus against the Packers in Week 2. He carried the ball 31 times and gained just 50 yards. As a whole, the Vikings’ run game has done less than nothing this year. Barring a sudden outburst over the last three games, they’ll finish as the worst Minnesota rushing offense since the advent of the 16-game schedule. On the surface, Peterson doesn’t appear to be a fit in the offensive scheme of interim Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur. . .not as much as he was in Norv Turner’s offense, in any case. It remains to be seen exactly how the Vikings will work him into the offense.
It appears that we’re all going to get a chance to find out how Peterson fits into the new scheme in a couple of weeks, as he will return to practice for the Vikings on Wednesday.