Adrian Peterson left Minnesota's game against Green Bay with a knee injury, and with waiver adds due tonight in many leagues, fantasy teams need to know how long he might be out. Unfortunately, there's little clarity on what his immediate future holds.
Peterson's injury is one that could require surgery, sidelining him either for a short period of time or a longer one, depending on which surgery option is taken. But the complication is that running backs have played through similar injuries before. Peterson himself has done so. So it's entirely possible that Peterson won't have surgery and will play, possibly even this week.
Reading through the article and the various options, I'm going to hazard a guess that Peterson won't have the surgery that would sideline him for months. The Vikings are 2-0 and arguably the favorites in the NFC North. They've given up a first-round pick for Sam Bradford, so they're in win-now mode. Peterson isn't going to want to undergo a procedure that could cost him the season unless absolutely necessary.
The shorter-term option, or not having surgery at all, would probably mean he'd miss a few weeks, at most (and maybe not even that much). Given that, and the likelihood that Minnesota at least tries to get by with a choice that doesn't sideline their starting running back, I for one am not going to bid heavily on either Jerick McKinnon or Matt Asiata in my leagues. They'll probably play in a committee anyway.
And that's assuming Peterson himself doesn't try to play, either this week or in the next week or two.
I understand that running back is the hardest position to fill in fantasy leagues, and some will feel they have to add a Vikings back (particularly if they have Peterson, which makes sense). But I think you need to be careful not to blow a big chunk of the budget on a committee back who might not be the starter for very long, if at all.
--Andy Richardson