Adrian Peterson wants to run wild in 2015 and finish with his best season yet.
In an interview with NFL Media’s Marshall Faulk, Peterson said he can’t even put into words how dominating he believes he can be this season.
“What I envision is something the eyes haven’t seen before,” he said. “I feel good, got a great team surrounding me as well. Keeping God first and staying on that path, I feel the sky’s the limit and it could be my best season thus far.”
Minnesota @Vikings RB @AdrianPeterson has one goal for 2015…
Domination. #BackToFootball pic.twitter.com/3UNW6HH9LT
— NFL (@NFL) July 29, 2015
According to Adam Schefter, Peterson’s goal is to rush for 2,500 yards, which would be 403 more yards than he rushed for in his MVP season in 2012.
Offensive coordinator Norv Turner is already on record saying Peterson is “way ahead of everybody else” at training camp, the Pioneer Press reports. Peterson says he’s in the best shape of his life and Jerick McKinnon can back that up.
The second-year running back chatted with Rolling Stone about his role with the Vikings this season, and he told a story about working out with Peterson during the offseason.
“He’s a fun guy to be around. I got a chance to go down to Texas and work out with him, and beforehand I was trying to figure out how the workouts were going to go, and he said, ‘It’s gonna be work!'”
“I finally go out there and we got to running and I can cosign: He is in the best shape of his life! If you know Adrian, you know it’s not shocking that he’s in the best shape of his life. Just being around a guy like that, that has the work ethic, that you grew up watching and you look up to, being able to work with him to get better is definitely a blessing.”
Peterson in the passing game
Word leading up to the start of the season is that Turner will likely use Peterson more in the passing game.
Peterson’s best season catching passes out of the backfield came in 2009, when Brett Favre connected with him 44 times for 436 yards. Both totals are career highs for Peterson.
In 2010, Favre’s final season in the NFL, Peterson caught 36 passes for 341 yards. That’s a two-year total of 81 receptions and 777 yards. In the four years since he’s combined for 89 receptions and 545 yards.
Why are his receiving totals way down? Peterson has his answer.
“Think about when Brett Favre was here, when I actually had a quarterback that checked the ball down to the running backs,” Peterson said Tuesday, according to the Star Tribune. “I did pretty decent.”
Had Peterson not missed 15 games last season he could have played with Teddy Bridgewater, who hooked up with McKinnon and Matt Asiata a combined 71 times.
If the Vikings use Peterson on third downs a lot this season, a lot of those passes that went to McKinnon and Asiata could go to Peterson.
