Is Adrian Peterson Overrated? Not a Chance

Is Adrian Peterson overrated?  Not a chance. 

How people can even think that the two time Pro Bowler (2008 Pro Bowl MVP) is the slightest bit overrated. Any such notion is completely absurd. 

After six teams passed on the fragile, injury prone product from Oklahoma, Peterson has purely dominated in his first two full years in the league. In his young career, he has already begun breaking records and also won the offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2007. 

Can someone be over hyped or overrated when you lead the league in rushing during your sophomore season with 1,760 yards? That feat is especially impressive when you consider the Vikings quarterback situation, swapping between Tavaris Jackson and Gus Ferotte.

When defenses put eight in the box and have no respect for the passing game, does an overrated player break the single game rushing record?  In Adrian’s eighth game during his rookie season, against a (4-3) San Diego Chargers team, he broke the single game rushing record (296 yards) by one yard with Brooks Bollinger as his quarterback.  You read that right, Brooks Bollinger.

Yes, Adrian has had some fumbling problems, but everyone has their flaws. Soon enough he will overcome the fumblitis.  Some say that he is not the complete back, because he  lacks the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. That’s what practice and OTA’s are for. 

Now that Brett Favre is in the picture, it is easy to say that Peterson is being undervalued. Not a single football show in America can not go a whole segment without saying No. 4's name, while Peterson has often been neglected.

Peterson is still leading the NFC in rushing and touchdowns,but now that the Vikings finally have a quarterback, Peterson is going unnoticed and being ridiculed for not having the most rushing yards in the NFL. 

Now that the Vikings are NFC North front runners and perhaps even Super Bowl favorites, good old "All Day" is being overlooked because of some forty year old Viking that is constantly in the lights. 

Fantasy owners are upset because he isn’t the “beast” he was supposed to be, but now with a competent quarterback, some of the pressure has been taken off of Peterson to carry the whole entire offense. 

The bottom line is that Adrian Peterson is one of the hardest working players in the NFL, and with that comes high expectations.  Not to take anything away from Chris Johnson, but the first two seasons of his career have mirrored those of Peterson's.  Like Peterson, Johnson is the focal point of the Titan offense. 

Hopefully Johnson can handle the criticism once his team turns around.

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