Adrian Peterson has said he wants to play in the NFL next season and beyond, but he will likely have even more trouble finding work this offseason than he did a year ago. The lukewarm endorsement he got from his soon-to-be former team’s general manager probably won’t help much.
While speaking with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Wednesday, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said he believes Peterson has plenty left in the tank. However, he was openly critical of the 32-year-old’s pass-catching ability.
“There’s no doubt that Adrian still has some juice left in the tank, particularly from a run-skill standpoint,” Keim said, via Chris Wesseling of NFL.com. “He still runs with a lot of anger and aggressiveness, and has the type of contact balance you look for in that position. But in today’s day and age, we all know that you have to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield, you have to be able to do a lot of different things. So versatility is really a key.”
Peterson, who will turn 33 in March, has never been known for having great hands. He tried to blame that on his quarterback situations in the past, but the numbers don’t lie. Over his 12-year NFL career, A.P. had just two seasons where he topped 300 yards receiving. The last time he hit that mark was in 2010.
While he got off to a blazing start after being traded to the Cardinals from New Orleans, Peterson ended up averaging just 3.4 yards per carry in 2017. There’s no question he can still turn it on when he needs to, but his prediction about how much longer he is going to play just seems too farfetched.
