There’s only one way to best gauge just how far Adrian Peterson has come in his recovery from a devastating knee injury.
And that’s to see how he fares in live contact.
So the Minnesota Vikings did just that with their All-Pro tailback in practice on Monday as defenders were allowed to hit Peterson for the first time since his surgically repaired right knee had healed enough to resume practicing. The contact was limited to above the waist and nobody was allowed to take Peterson down to the ground.
Nevertheless, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said afterwards that he liked what he saw.
“There were times there was nowhere to go and he had to run into people, and he responded well,” Frazier said of the four-time Pro Bowler. “That was good to see. There were some good, hard hits. Nothing to the ground, just guys thudding him.”
Team medical personnel plan to keep watch on Peterson as a precaution to make sure his body reacts well to the increased contact.
Frazier has ruled out Peterson’s playing against the Houston Texans in Thursday night’s preseason finale at Reliant Stadium, but there is a chance he could be in the lineup when Minnesota travels to San Francisco for its Sept. 9 regular season opener.
The six-year veteran from Oklahoma suffered a devastating knee injury against Washington on Dec. 24, requiring corrective surgery to completely replace his shredded anterior cruciate ligament and repair his medial collateral one. Many questioned whether the All-Pro running back would ever play football again, let alone return by the start of the 2012 season.
Peterson vowed from the outset of his recovery to be back in time for the 2012 season opener.
He averaged better than 1,400 yards rushing per year over his first four NFL seasons and owns the league mark for the most yards in a single game (296). Injuries limited him to just 12 games in 2011, marking the only time in Peterson’s career that he’s failed to record a 1,000-yard season.
