There are those who think that – at 31 years of age – the Minnesota Vikings might be better off moving into the post-Adrian Peterson era sooner rather than later.
They won’t like reading this.
For the fourth straight season and, yes, even at 31 years old NFL.com columnist Adam Schein has named AP the NFL’s most indispensable offensive player.
Here’s why:
“In his nine-year career, Peterson has logged 16 games in four separate seasons, all of which ended with the Vikings in the playoffs.
In the five other campaigns? Zero playoff appearances for Minnesota. That, my friends, is indispensable. When Adrian Peterson plays a full season, the Vikings make the playoffs – plain and simple.”
Peterson has won three rushing titles in his nine seasons with the Vikings, including last year when he ran for 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also was the NFL MVP in 2009 when he ran for 2,097 yards.
In his career, he is Minnesota’s all-time leading rusher with 11,675 career yards and has 97 career rushing touchdowns.
Here is the full list, according to Schein.
- Adrian Peterson – RB, Minnesota Vikings
- Rob Gronkowski – TE, New England Patriots
- Julio Jones – WR, Atlanta Falcons
- Jordy Nelson – WR, Green Bay Packers
- Odell Beckham – WR, New York Giants
- DeAndre Hopkins – WR, Houston Texans
- Todd Gurley – RB, St. Louis Rams
- Ryan Kalil – C, Carolina Panthers
- A.J. Green – WR, Cincinnati Bengals
