Does Adrian Peterson have anything left in the tank?

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Adrian Peterson is in his 11th season. He busted onto the NFL scene in 2007 after being drafted 7th overall by the Minnesota Vikings. Peterson wasted no time making his impact felt by rushing for 1341 yards, and 12 touchdowns as a rookie, earning Rookie of the Year honors, as well as 2nd team All-Pro and making the Pro Bowl. He also broke the single-game rushing record his rookie season with 296 yards against the Chargers. This would continue to be what to expect from Peterson as his career continued. He rushed for 1000 yards seven times, scored 10 TDs in a single season on eight different occasions, and has been named an NFL All-Pro seven times (4x 1st team, 3x 2nd team).

Peterson had the best season of his career in 2012 when he rushed for 2,097 yards and came up eight yards short of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards. AP rushed the ball 348 times that season, averaging 6.0 yards-per-carry, scored 12 TDs and was named MVP of the 2012 season. His most recent full season came in 2015 when Peterson ran for 1,485 yards along with 12 TDs, and he averaged 4.5 yards-per-carry.

Peterson has shown to be one of the greatest running backs of all time and one of the most lethal and dominate runners in the game during his time in Minnesota. Can AP figure it out and prove to still be a threat and see similar success in New Orleans?

In the 2016 season, Peterson went down in Week 2 vs the Packers with a torn meniscus, and mild sprain of the LCL, causing him to miss all but three games of the season and rushed for just 72 yards. After the season on February 28th, the Vikings announced they would not exercise Peterson’s $18 million dollar option, making him a free agent for the 2017 season. Peterson still believed he had something left in the tank and was in search for a new team. He signed a 2 year $7 million dollar contract with the New Orleans Saints.

Saints Head Coach Sean Payton has come into the season 2017 with a running back by committee approach, with former Heisman winner Mark Ingram and rookie running back Alvin Kamara joining Peterson in the Saints backfield.

In the first game of the season Peterson only had six carries for 18 yards, and in week 2 had eight carries totaling for 26 yards. Neither Ingram or Kamara has stepped up to take over the role as the full time back, with essentially equal game opportunity.

Peterson will go down as one of the best NFL running backs of all time, but at this point of his career, can we expect to any signs of the old AP?