On a mission
Bell: After off-field turmoil, expect great season from Adrian Peterson,
To mark the long-awaited, official reinstatement today of one Adrian Lewis Peterson to the NFL ranks, it’s time for an All-Day Prediction. 2,000 yards. After all this drama — the exempt list, no-showing for a disciplinary hearing, a secretly taped phone call, a suspension overturned on appeal, an NFL appeal of the appeal and enough trade speculation to create a reality TV series — Peterson cannot come back and have some ho-hum season.
Although some people might never forgive Peterson for the manner in which he whipped his then-4-year-old son with a switch, fueling the child abuse charges that resulted in probation from a Texas court and the hotly contested NFL suspension, he has indeed paid a stiff price for that.
Endorsements gone. Reputation in need of major repair. Scrutiny intensified.
Yet I’d suspect there’s a huge part of Peterson that wants to remind everyone why he’s so spe- cial as a football player. Bet he has already raised the bar of expectations pretty high himself.
Which, by the way, is exactly why the Minnesota Vikings would be out of their minds to trade Peterson about now.
The last time Peterson’s flow was interrupted, when he blew out his left knee at the end of the 2011 season — a torn ACL compounded by a torn MCL — he defied the odds and became a poster child for modern medicine and rehab by making it back by the season opener the next season.
Then he ended his classic 2012 as the NFL’s MVP, putting the Vikings on his back for a playoff berth. He wound up just 9 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season record of 2,105 yards — while coming off reconstructive knee surgery.
That type of comeback doesn’t happen without the internal edge that has always been in Peterson’s DNA. Having now experienced hard lessons that include how quickly the fall from grace can be with an off-the-field misstep — which in Peterson’s mind was tough-love in disciplining a child, as it was taught to him — I would imagine he will see the football field as a perfect place to unleash any pent-up frustration lingering from his case.
Now watch Peterson, one of seven players in NFL history to crack 2,000 yards in a season, make history by becoming the first to twice rush for 2,000 yards.
Maybe this time he’ll indeed break the mark Dickerson set in 1984.
That would be quite a statement to complement the bold stand that Peterson took to fight the NFL over the discipline process, which to a large degree seemed to be as much about carrying the NFL Players Association banner in another skirmish against Roger and Co.
Sure, he just turned 30 on March 21, and that milestone birthday for NFL running backs has traditionally been a marker that signals a decline.
Just know that one size does not fit all. Look at what Emmitt Smith, and, before him, Walter Payton accomplished after 30. Both rushed for more than 5,000 yards after 30. Sometimes, age is nothing but a number.
Besides, we’re talking about Peterson, his edge, and well, the fresh legs that he’ll surely have after missing essentially an entire season of NFL wear-and-tear.
After paying the bulk of Peterson’s $12 million salary last year while he was parked on the commissioner’s exempt list, the Vikings owe it to themselves to reap the rewards of the big return.
Now let’s see if Peterson can indeed redefine what it means to have a breakout season.