Tampa Bay Buccaneers: No, Adrian Peterson should not be a target
Rewind the tape one-year ago and I’m all in on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bringing in Adrian Peterson. Now, not so much, but it has less to do with the player than it does the team.
Simply put, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t need Peterson anymore. Last year, there was a need. Doug Martin was the starting running back and was facing a three-suspension.
Peyton Barber hadn’t yet emerged as a young player who could contribute to the Bucs offense like he did towards the end of 2017.
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Charles Sims is a pass-catching back who had and still has limited to no consistent value carrying the ball out of the backfield.
Jacquizz Rodgers is certainly serviceable as a starting back, but like most, shouldn’t be forced to carry the workload by himself.
Peterson would have brought a veteran presence, a mean streak, and given the offense a better spread of carries distribution while Martin served out his sentence.
Had the former Vikings stud done well, then perhaps we could have seen a shift to he and Martin with Sims serving his usual role.
If he did poorly like he did with New Orleans and for most of the year with Arizona when not playing Tampa, well, we’d be in the same place we are now.
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With a rookie in Ronald Jones who is earning lots of attention, the excitement surrounding Barber and whether or not he can build off a strong finish last season, Rodgers as a continued veteran presence and Sims – doing Sims things.
Recently, a few sites went on the record saying they felt the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could consider bringing in Peterson. Well, they could.
They could also consider trading Jameis Winston and Mike Evans in a package deal to the Cleveland Browns for Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry and two future first-round picks. They could. But they won’t.
Tampa Bay could also lose their professional team to Saskatchewan and we’d all be left to turn our attention to Canada or find a new team. I hear the Jaguars are doing well these days.
Again, they could, but they won’t.
Granted, it’s more likely the team will look to sign Adrian Peterson long before they do either of the other two moves, but it’s highly unlikely.
The Bucs have perhaps the most versatile backfield they’ve had in my 35-years of life. They have a guy who fits every scenario pending verification of Jones’ talents.
If the team signs any further starting caliber free-agents, it’s far more likely to come in the secondary than anywhere else.
So, no the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should not go after Peterson. Even if they could.
What do you think about the running backs in Tampa? Are you happy, or do you want more change?