Arizona Cardinals - Fantasy News

Adrian Peterson Debut For Cardinals Makes Fantasy History

by Adam Markowitz

10/15/17

NFL

Arizona Cardinals

Adrian Peterson

Running backs don't normally have anything left in the tank by the time they hit 32 years, particularly when they're coming off major knee surgery. But maybe Adrian Peterson was right the whole time when he said that he was different.

In Peterson's first game as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, he ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for 26.4 Dober Fantasy Points.

Players aren't often traded in the middle of seasons, and when they are, their fantasy impact is generally limited. In fact, the last time there was a player who made this sort of debut was back in 1962.

ESPN's Tristan Cockcroft dug up a gem of a stat. Peterson's debut was the second-most fantasy points by a player making an in-season debut for a new team. The most ever was by Howard Cassady, a receiver with the nickname of "Hopalong." Cassady had eight receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns, equating to 30.30 DFP, in his debut game as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles after being dealt the previous week by the Cleveland Browns.

There's plenty of reason to get excited for Peterson going forward, the biggest of which was the way he gashed a darn good defensive front.

Coming into this game, the Buccaneers had allowed teams to average just 3.4 yards per carry. Opposing running backs ripped off just two runs that covered more than 20 yards, and they had amassed two rushing touchdowns.

Peterson averaged 5.2 yards per carry, including five runs for at least 10 yards and a 27-yard touchdown.

It's not like we can say that the Arizona offensive line had been dominant, regardless of the running back in the backfield. David Johnson averaged just 2.1 yards per carry before he was hurt while Chris Johnson averaged 2.5 yards per carry as the Cardinals' primary runner before he was cut to make room on the roster for Peterson.

Even in this game, Kerwynn Williams had one nice run for 11 yards and two duds that totaled just three yards.

Of course, there's a question as to whether or not this is sustainable. Peterson took more snaps in this game than he did in the rest of the season combined to date, and the last time he had 20 carries in a game was in 2015.

It's interesting to note a disturbing trend in Peterson's output in games after running the ball 20+ times when he was a 30-year old with Minnesota. "All Day" had some great games in a row towards the middle of the season, but at year's end, he was a different looking back. He averaged just 3.56 yards per rush in his last five games of that season, and in his last four games following 20+ carry performances, he averaged just 48.3 rushing yards per game.

Peterson is always going to be a threat to get in the end zone as a goal-line back, but the phrase "touchdown dependent" might be the ugliest in fantasy football.

It's already abundantly clear that Peterson isn't going to be used in most passing situations; that role is reserved for Andre Ellington. If Peterson is picking up DFP, he's doing so strictly with his legs.

With the Cardinals traveling to London to play against the Rams next week, there is plenty of cause for concern. He'll be up against an inflated Projected Fantasy Points total after having the great game against the Bucs, and his history suggests that he's set to come back to Earth, perhaps with a resounding thud of a game.