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By Matthew Davis
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The Minnesota Vikings are taking the middle road by inducting former running back great Adrian Peterson into the Ring of Honor.
Peterson dominated in the late 2000s and 2010s, and he’s more or less bound for Canton. His off-field troubles clouded his career, but the Vikings are clearly honoring him for his on-field achievements.
Peterson rushed for 14,918 yards and 120 touchdowns in his career between 2007 and 2021. He also caught 305 passes for 2,474 yards and six touchdowns.
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A Texas native, Peterson’s career took off at Oklahoma, where he became a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. He rushed for 4,045 yards and 41 touchdowns on 747 carries in three years with the Sooners between 2004 and 2006.
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Minnesota, which had lost superstar wide receiver Randy Moss via a trade in 2005, needed a new spark offensively and a face for the franchise. Peterson did that right off the bat when the Vikings took him with the No. 7 pick in 2007, as he dominated out of the gate.
He rushed for 103 yards and caught a touchdown in his first game, and Peterson took things further with an NFL record 296-yard game against the then-San Diego Chargers that season.
Peterson won the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and he began a string of four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He also scored at least 10 touchdowns in each of his first seven seasons before he faced a suspension in 2014 due to off-field misconduct. During that first seven-season burst, Peterson won MVP in 2012 as he rushed for 2,097 and 12 touchdowns on 348 carries.
That came a year after tearing his ACL and MCL at the end of the 2011 season. Peterson came back better than ever after a major injury, which is rare in sports.
He had one last big season with the Vikings in 2015 when he rushed for 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns on 327 carries. Peterson only played three games in 2016 due to a severe right meniscus tear in the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium debut that year.
During his Vikings tenure, Peterson led the league in rushing three times, made seven Pro Bowls and four first-team All-Pros. He easily became one of the Vikings’ all-time greats and one of the NFL’s all-time greats.
Minnesota is doing the right thing by inducting him into the Vikings Ring of Honor this November.
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