Last season Adrian Peterson signed with the Washington Redskins and assumed the starting running back role. Derrius Guice, then rookie, tore his ACL in the preseason opener. Chris Thompson was still recovering from a broken leg. And all Peterson did was rush for 1,042 yards and seven touchdowns.
Guice is healthy and so is Thompson. Now, the 34-year old Peterson may be on the outside looking in.
Washington head coach Jay Gruden has already stated that Guice would be the starting running back going into Week 1’s matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, Gruden says there is a possibility that Peterson is inactive for Sunday’s game.
One would hope Gruden was only being sarcastic, however, not dressing Peterson wouldn’t be all that far-fetched. With Guice as the starter, Thompson would be the back up and third-down back. If Gruden is okay with dressing four running backs, this notion of Peterson being inactive is moot.
If Gruden only wants three in order to add depth at another position, he could choose Wendell Smallwood, the running back the Redskins claimed on Sunday off waivers. Smallwood is a better receiving back than Peterson. He also can pass protect better than Peterson, and Smallwood can play special teams, something Peterson isn’t known to do.
Thursday, Gruden also hinted that Guice would get the “mother load” of carries Sunday against Philadelphia.
“The issue is you’ve got one ball and if you’re going to hand the ball off 25 times a game, only so many carries can go around. You’ve still got Chris Thompson up and Adrian.” Gruden said per Ben Krimmel of 106.7 the Fan. “The big thing is we just gotta make sure we got somebody ready for the mother load and everybody else will be ready for whatever else they can get.”
Guice will be the featured back, that’s for sure. Where Peterson fits remains to be seen.
We will see how Gruden and his coaching staff choose to handle the situation. Seven of the Redskins’ 53 players won’t dress Sunday in Philadelphia. One of those players could be Peterson, and that alone is mind boggling.
