The Minnesota Vikings have started training camp and Adrian Peterson is back after signing a new contract and the team is hoping that Cordarrelle Patterson can get more consistent after struggles in his second season and this comes as the team has signed Blair Walsh to an extension and has placed Casey Matthews on IR.
The Vikings were one of the first teams to open camp this summer, as they are playing in the Hall of Fame game against the Steelers, The team is at Minnesota State University and Mike Zimmer has both his rookies and veterans all reported for camp. The Vikings took care of some business ahead of camp, giving Adrian Peterson a new contract and also signing kicker Blair Walsh to a contract extension.
The team gave Peterson more guaranteed money after a contract standoff this offseason and now he looks like he will be with the Vikings for the tail end of his career. According to Pro Football Talk, the team has placed Josh Robinson on the PUP list coming into training camp, while Casey Matthews was placed on IR after dealing with an injury and now he will be out for the season.
Peterson missed 15 games last season while being placed on the commissioner's exempt list and he is expecting to start now that he is back. Peterson said to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that his goal is to rush for 2500 yards this season and while that is likely an unattainable goal, it's clear that Peterson is ready to get back onto the field. Zimmer said in minicamp workouts that Peterson has shown "no rust" since coming back and that he is comfortable with him taking on a full workload again.
According to NFL.com, the team may have Peterson on a snap count early in the season, as they do not want him to get tired out after missing most of last year. The last time that Peterson played in a full season he rushed for 1266 yards and 10 touchdowns and the year before that he set a career high with over 2000 yards rushing. The Vikings have some solid depth at running back, as Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata stepped up while Peterson was out.
McKinnon likely will be the backup for Peterson and Asiata could see work on goal line situations over McKinnon. The Vikings are happy with their depth at running back and offensive coordinator Norv Turner said that the addition of Peterson will only help Teddy Bridgewater as he develops in year two. Bridgewater was the best rookie QB last season and the Vikings feel that he only will improve as time goes on.
The Vikings made some key additions this offseason in bringing back Peterson and not trading him and they also added Mike Wallace to the offense. The team traded for Wallace and his big play ability should be huge for Bridgewater. The addition also should help Cordarrelle Patterson, who has shown flashes of explosiveness, but Zimmer said that the wideout has struggled "with consistency" over the past year. Zimmer said in a USA Today article that Patterson "improved" in OTAs, but that he still needs work on routes and other aspects on the field.
Check here for more on the Minnesota Vikings offseason moves and for more on camp.