Adrian Peterson Will Return to the NFC North After Signing a One-Year Deal With the Lions

Peterson will face his old team, the Vikings, twice in divisional play this season

Adrian Peterson running
Adrian Peterson of the Washington Redskins runs with the ball in the second half against the Detroit Lions at FedExField on November 24, 2019 in Landover, Maryland.
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Adrian Peterson is back in the NFC North after a four-year absence. After he was released by the Washington Football Team on Friday, Peterson is signing a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions, according to the Associated Press.

That would bring one of the best running backs in NFL history back to the division also housing the Minnesota Vikings, the team he made his historic mark with before parting ways before the 2017 season. Stops in New Orleans with the Saints and Arizona with the Cardinals followed before he landed with Washington before the 2018 season.

Now, he’s moving to Detroit for an unspecific amount, though given his age of 35, it likely is on the lower end of the salary cap. Over his two seasons in Washington, however, Peterson showed some flashes of his world-beating talent, and he racked up a more-than-respectable 1,940 yards and 12 touchdowns in his two seasons with Washington.

In a cosmic twist, Peterson joins the Lions as he’s chasing the fourth spot on the league’s all-time leading rushing yards list. The man in fourth now? Detroit legend Barry Sanders, who tweeted his excitement to see All Day wear the Lions blue:

Peterson could add some much-needed punch to a Lions rushing attack that didn’t have a single standout last season, though it doesn’t appear that one of the current Detroit running backs is all that worried about competition. Shortly after the report first broke, Kerryon Johnson joked on Twitter that he wants to ask Peterson for his autograph:

Peterson also will have a chance to face his old team pretty early on; the Lions will play the Washington Football Team on November 15. As for his first division game against the Vikings, that will happen the week before. Should make for an emotional seven days for the (for now) fifth-most prolific runner in NFL history.

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Read the full story at the Associated Press

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