Fantasy Football Week 16: Will Adrian Peterson Return to Greatness?

Its the championship in Fantasy Football Week 16, but will Adrian Peterson return to greatness? Can you trust the former star to win you the crown?

We have reached the fantasy football championship (in most leagues that doing it wrong and use Week 17). Everyone who has made it this far in their respective leagues has their rosters pretty well set—with one possible exception.

Adrian Peterson was placed on injured reserve early in the year and dropped in most fantasy leagues. There is a large chunk of fantasy contenders who added Peterson sometime between now and then and currently have him as a starting running back option for Fantasy Football Week 16. Will he return to greatness and win you the title?

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem discuss Fantasy Football Week 16 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

Peterson returned to the field last week, which must have been great for his owners who weren’t sure how he would perform if given the chance. However, he was given a brief chance and did absolutely nothing. Peterson gained 23 total yards on seven touches, didn’t score, and fumbled. I’m not sure if his owners would have preferred not to see him play at all or see him get back out there and do this against a terrible Indianapolis defense. The outcome was bad enough that I cannot tell if this article talking about him being washed up is a heavy troll job or serious in nature.

What do you do with Peterson for Week 16? The Vikings are set to play the Green Bay Packers on the road. Green Bay has been an average defense at best this year, but it is better against the run than the pass thanks to massive injuries in the secondary. Its offense is also capable of running out to a lead, making the Vikings’ rushing attack less useful. That doesn’t help Peterson’s cause.

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Consensus expert rankings have Peterson as the 32nd ranked running back heading into Wednesday. That seems…low, right? But maybe not. I can pick a few guys above Peterson who I would definitely bench for the Minnesota back, such as Rashad Jennings. There are also some backups ranked ahead of him, but this feels like nitpicking. There aren’t actually a ton of huge questions ranked above him. He is the biggest. Is there an upside there that makes him worth a start with a fantasy championship on the line even though we haven’t seen elite Peterson since the middle of 2015?

Dan Salem:

If the Minnesota Vikings hope to extend their playoff chances another week, they’ll need to run the ball extremely well against Green Bay. If the Vikings want any chance of making the playoffs, they need to win, which means dominating time of possession and keeping the football away from Aaron Rodgers. All of this adds up to a lot of rushing and a potential breakout day for Adrian Peterson.

Peterson would like nothing more than to carry his hobbled team on his back, defeat their division rival, and keep Minnesota’s playoff hopes alive. Yet I don’t believe he’s ready for such responsibility on the field or in your fantasy lineup. Making him active forces the opposing defense to game plan for his dynamic abilities, however, we saw how far from himself Peterson still is in Week 15. Is 75 percent of Adrian Peterson better than 100 percent of your third-string running back?

I give Peterson a decent chance of recording 50 yards on the ground, but slim odds of gaining more than 60 yards. He’s probably a coin flip to score a touchdown as well. Frankly, Minnesota is not a great football team right now and Green Bay is. They’ve been trending in opposite directions. I’d start Peterson over someone like Matt Forte, but not over Jennings. This is a tight rope that no one should be traversing in the playoffs.

Don’t let your love of Peterson blind you from the painful reality. He might get you five or six fantasy points, but the chances of him recording double digits are slim.