Adrian Peterson To Visit Seahawks

The Seahawks are doing their due diligence at running back, and it turns out they do want to see what Adrian Peterson potentially has left. The defending NFC West champions will meet with the future Hall of Famer on Sunday, ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson tweets.

This comes after the team lined up visits for both Jamaal Charles, Eddie Lacy and Latavius Murray. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports was the first to report Peterson would trek to Seattle (Twitter link). But the last report coming out of Seattle regarding Peterson was not pointing to an imminent visit. Instead, Peterson will be part of a star-studded UFA tour for a Seahawks team that saw its young running backs fail to stay healthy last season.

Peterson has not seen his market take off despite being one of this generation’s greatest running backs. The soon-to-be 32-year-old back saw the Vikings predictably decline an $18MM price tag to bring him back for an 11th season in Minnesota. Since, he’s been connected to the Patriots, Raiders, Seahawks and Giants this offseason. None previously exibited much interest. Sunday’s trip to the Pacific Northwest could be critical not only for Peterson, but for the running back market.

The running back’s father said earlier this week, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, both the Raiders and Seahawks expressed interest in his son. But no Bay Area visit has been scheduled. Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell‘s presence piqued Peterson’s interest in the Seahawks, per Tomasson. He was the Vikings’ OC during Peterson’s first four seasons. Peterson rushed for more than 1,300 yards in three of those four slates and at least 1,200 in all four. Although, he has nearly 2,500 carries on his resume now and is obviously a different player.

A three-time rushing champion, Peterson saw a torn meniscus essentially end his Vikings tenure after 10 seasons. He averaged just 1.9 yards per carry in 2016 — an off-a-cliff drop from his usual per-tote marks — behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines. Pro Football Focus, though, graded Seattle’s group as being the league’s worst last season. So, it will be interesting to see what comes out of this meeting. With so many visits with backs scheduled, it’s unlikely the Seahawks sign Peterson on sight and don’t meet with the aforementioned ball-carriers.

Christine Michael led the Seahawks in rushing last season, but the team waived him midway through the year. Thomas Rawls finished with the most ground yards (349) of any current Seahawk but averaged just 3.2 per carry and missed seven games due to injury. Passing-down back C.J. Prosise also played in just six games.

View Comments (12)