According to Washington Redskins coach Ron Rivera, running back Adrian Peterson — the resident senior on the team who is 35 years old — is “looking young as ever” headed into his 14th career season in the NFL.
With that age come some doubt from the outside, for Peterson, as the world awaits the inevitable and questions more and more when Father Time is going to come knocking on the door of the future Hall of Fame lock. So far, at least, AP has been able to stave off retirement, and his last two years with the Redskins have been incredibly impressive, considering that many people wrote him off after an uneventful stint with the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. In 2018, AP had over 1,000 yards and 7 touchdowns for Washington, and he added 898 yards and 5 touchdowns last season.
Heading into 2020, many are expecting Peterson to take a lesser role as some of the young RB’s in Washington take steps forward — namely Derrius Guice, who has battled the injury bug throughout his career — but it wouldn’t be a shock to see them have to battle AP for that starting spot until the very end. When you’re that good at what you do, giving up your spot at the top of the hill doesn’t come easy. If Rivera says he’s looking as young as ever, I expect to see AP run as hard as he always has in 2020, and he’ll likely be pretty hard to bring down. Nothing new.
