Football News With Washington Redskins

An NFL team never wants to fill the same hole over and over.

Some can’t help themselves, or the circumstances that make them do it.

The Washington Redskins drafted Samaje Perine in the fourth round of the NFL draft in 2017 and Derrius Guice in the second round this year. You can see they’d like to run the football a little.

Guice, however, is out for the year with a knee injury suffered in the first preseason game. Perine (sprained ankle) might not be available until the final preseason game, and why would you risk him then? That left the Redskins with Chris Thompson and Rob Kelley – the guys they were trying to replace.

So they signed what’s left of Adrian Peterson. Peterson, 33, hasn’t been a major contributor since 2015, and running backs over the age of 30 generally don’t enjoy much success.
Give Peterson credit for one thing. He believes in himself, even if almost no one else does.

Doubters, “don’t really know about football,” he said, and point to his meager recent stats without a full understanding of the circumstances behind them.

Uh, no. Teams that want a stud running back draft one (as the Redskins did in Guice). Don’t try to make it sound like the Redskins suddenly got smarter than 31 other teams – they just got a little more desperate. Note: Your humble blogger was employed by the Redskins from 2009-2011.

The Redskins haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Alfred Morris in 2014, and the Skins let him go as a free agent. He was recently signed by the San Francisco 49ers, and you’d have to think coach Kyle Shanahan, once Washington’s offensive coordinator, might have some idea about who has gas in his tank (and knows his system).

Peterson averaged 3.4 yards a carry last season with the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. After the Saints let him go, they got 4.9 yards per carry from Mark Ingram and 6.1 from Alvin Kamara. Peterson averaged 3.0. He did have a couple of explosive games (with a couple meaning two) with the Cardinals, and also numerous duds.

Injuries can make teams reach a little. And the Redskins, with a solid offensive line, might be able to open holes for Peterson. Can he get to them? Can he power through the interior as he did in his superb years with the Minnesota Vikings?

Not likely. At this juncture, he is what he is. And that’s a 33-year-old running back in a league that values youth, receiving skills he never refined and (did we mention this?) youth.

NFL talent evaluators look at game video more than numbers. They know what they’re doing (much of the time). And that’s why Peterson only found a job when the Redskins needed a body. Which is what Peterson has become – a body.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman