Vikings Draft: Adrian Peterson to Pace Minnesota's Rushing Attack

Colts: Dominic Rhodes/Joseph Addai

 

Patriots: Corey Dillon/Laurence Maroney  

 

Bears: Thomas Jones/Cedric Benson  

 

Saints: Deuce McAllister/Reggie Bush  

 

Your conference semifinalists from the season gone by, and their respective two-headed rushing attacks.  

 

Without question, one of the most successful trends in the NFL is the two-back approach, and the Minnesota Vikings have become the most recent bunch of true believers.  

 

The Vikings fan base couldn't be happier.  

 

Chester Taylor ranked ninth in the league in rushing last season, but the Vikings still felt compelled to complement him with Adrian Peterson, the seventh pick in last weekend's draft.  The feature-back workload clearly began to weigh on Taylor late in the 2006 season, a factor that undoubtedly influenced the Vikes as they debated between Peterson and Brady Quinn.  

 

Peterson's freshman year at Oklahoma feels like a distant memory, but let's not forget he rushed for 1,925 yards and was the runner-up for Matt Leinart's Heisman Trophy.  Had he been eligible that spring, Peterson would have undoubtedly gone higher than seventh.  

 

In the two years since then, Peterson suffered two significant injuries that understandably affected his draft status.  One, his broken collarbone, reportedly still isn't healed and may require surgery.      

 

But drafting wounded running backs—like Frank Gore and Willis McGahee—has paid dividends for NFL teams in the recent past.  And I'm sure the Vikings feel like Peterson's injury enabled them to get the best running back in the draft at seventh overall.  

 

This weekend, the Vikings didn't just pass on Brady Quinn—they passed on virtually every other quarterback in the draft. They finally selected Tyler Thigpen, who wasn't even invited to the combine, in the seventh round.  

 

Minnesota is asking its fan base to take a giant leap of faith with Tarvaris Jackson, who managed a 62.5 rating in four games and two starts last season.

 

Wide receiver Sidney Rice's career will forever be compared to that of Dwayne Jarrett in the minds of Minnesotans.  The Vikings essentially passed on Jarrett twice, trading down in the second round with Jarrett still on the board, then selecting Rice one pick before Carolina snagged the USC star.  

 

Despite devoting just three of their eight picks to the defensive side of the ball, the Vikes were able to fill some holes with CB Marcus McCauley, DE Brian Robison, and LB Rufus Alexander.