The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sound like a team ready to enter the Adrian Peterson sweepstakes.
As is the case with most teams when it comes to Peterson, this would be a misstep by the Buccaneers.
The aging Peterson is having a hard time finding a job for a reason. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Bucs coach Dirk Koeetter sounds happy to hear Jameis Winston has been working out with Peterson this offseason:
“I’ve seen Adrian Peterson many times playing and that guy is one of the best running backs to ever play,” Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. “I’m anxious to talk to Jameis and ask him how his workouts went. That caught me off guard. I didn’t know that. I’ll be honest with you, first thing I thought when I saw that was Jamies is just an amazing guy. The guy is everywhere.”
The problem? Winston could have a glowing review of Peterson and it wouldn’t make much sense for the Buccaneers to bring him on at a steep cost.
And as we’ve noted, the price seems too high for most teams. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler detailed why Green Bay took a pass:
Said on @SportsCenter two NFL sources believe Adrian Peterson is still free agent b/c initial price too high. GB mulled visit but passed
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 24, 2017
Peterson is over the age of 30 and hasn’t been reliable consistently at all over the past three seasons. Paying him a ton of money doesn’t make sense when the Buccaneers can go get a talented back in the draft for cheap.
Keep in mind the Buccaneers still have Doug Martin on the roster. He’s due a three-game suspension, but the roster still has guys like Charles Sims. A gamble on Peterson seems redundant at this point when a more dynamic rookie might help Winston more.
About Chris Roling
Chris is an Ohio University E.W. Scripps School of Journalism graduate and associate editor here at TSD. He also covers breaking news and the NFL at Bleacher Report and resides in Athens (OH) with his wife and two dogs.
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