Adrian Peterson: Fantasy Owners Should Keep 'All Day' on Bench This Week

I've carefully read the fantasy football tea leaves, and they have revealed to me a truth that you would be wise to heed this week: 

Bench Adrian Peterson in your fantasy football league.

Okay, so I didn't actually read any tea leaves, bags, coffee grinds, wine corks, Lionshead caps or Yoo-Hoo bottles. Tasseography isn't really my thing, but I did read the following from Cindy Boren of The Washington Post:

"

Coach Leslie Frazier will make the call on just how much he uses his star running back. And he won’t make that decision until he sees how Peterson responds to being pushed in practice Wednesday and Thursday. Frazier plans to decide Sunday just how much to use AP, who rushed for 970 yards in 12 games last season.

“We need to see him do some things physically within what we're trying to get done against Jacksonville,” Frazier said Monday (via StarTribune.com).

"

While this could simply be posturing by Frazier so the Jacksonville Jaguars don't know if they should gameplan for Peterson or not, I'm actually taking him at his word on this one. He should be a game-time decision—his recovery time from an ACL and MCL tear is astonishing:

"

If @adrianpeterson plays Sunday, he will do so a mere 254 days (36+ weeks) removed from reconstructive surgery on his ACL and MCL.

— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) September 4, 2012"

Even if he plays, do you really think the Minnesota Vikings are going to ride him hard in his first game back in action? 

Of course not. Frazier said as much in an interview on 1500 ESPN:

"

"We recognize if he's able to get in this first ball game, it'll be with limited exposure. We'll talk about it as the week goes on and see how he's doing and if it's even a valuable option to let him play."

"

Here's the absolute best-case scenario for you if Peterson sees action: he gets 12-15 touches and happens to break one of them for a long touchdown run. It's a plausible scenario.

It's also an incredibly risky scenario to bet on.

Your better option (if you drafted him) is to start Toby Gerhart, who will see the majority of the carries in this game whether Peterson plays or not. Really, if you drafted Peterson that should have been your plan all along—draft Gerhart to carry you through the first three or four games while Peterson was slowly worked back in.

Besides, if Peterson really is a game-time decision, there is always the possibility that you won't know whether he'll even play or not until right before kickoff. How angry are you going to be if your lineup locks with Peterson starting and you find out he won't play at all?

So I don't need tea leaves or the crushed mint at the bottom of a mojito to tell you that planning on benching Peterson this week is the smart thing to do. There's plenty of concrete evidence already available that should convince you he won't be a fantasy football factor in Week 1.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets would never deprive you of key features like franchise fantasy drafts.