Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave told reporters Thursday that he has “not too much doubt” that running back Adrian Peterson will see the field on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A one-of-a-kind athlete, Peterson has spent the entire offseason rehabbing from a torn MCL/ACL injury that he suffered back in December. Eight months later and it appears that the Vikings’ go-to guy is confident that he’s already ready to get back to football.
“I haven’t had any doubts,” Peterson said. “That’s not the way I’m programmed. That’s not the way you accomplish things, to have doubts. That comes from people around you, and that is what it is. That comes with it. I’ve been all positive and keeping my eye focused on what I said I would accomplish.”
Although it appears more and more likely that Peterson will play, the Vikings will undoubtedly limit the number of reps that their prized possession gets. ESPN 1500’s Tom Pellissero believes that Peterson won’t receive more than 10 handoffs as the Vikings rely heavily on backup Toby Gerhart to carry the load.
Assuming everything goes well this week during practice, Peterson will be a game-time decision on Sunday. The Vikings already have a runner capable of carrying the rushing workload in Gerhart, though, so there’s no rush for Peterson to re-enter the lineup.
The Vikings would benefit more from getting Peterson back midseason when he’s at 100 percent rather than letting him play before he’s physically ready and reinjures his knee. Still, it would be a near-miracle to see 28 tearing it up on Sunday against the Jaguars.
Only time will tell.
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