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Adrian Peterson: ‘Doubt motivates me’

Adrian Peterson looks to rebuild his career with the Saints.

New Orleans Saints running back Adrian Peterson will enter his first season in the Bayou having played in a grand total of 20 games since the end of the 2013 season.

Last year, his final in Minnesota, saw Peterson miss all but three games with a knee injury. At 32 years old and in the tail-end of his career, Peterson isn’t even guaranteed the starting job for the Saints. It’s been somewhat of a slow regression to over-the-hill status for Peterson.

Despite this, the future Hall of Famer wants to play in the NFL for a while longer. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess. But we now know what motivates Peterson to take to the field.

“Yes, the doubt motivates me,” Peterson said, via Bleacher Report. “I’d be lying to say it doesn’t. You want to do things people say you can’t do.”

Admitting that he listens to skeptics is rather interesting. Throughout his NFL career, Peterson has always been a “do your own thing” type of guy. He’s obviously aware that people don’t think he can return to earlier-career form.

Though, Peterson himself is aware of his surroundings with the Saints.

“I don’t need all those carries to be my best,” Peterson continued. “I don’t think I became a great player by having to have 20 or 30 carries to get 200 yards. If they feed it to me, hey, I’m going to eat. Whenever I get opportunities, I’ll take advantage of them.”

They boast a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees that has made the 5,000-yard passing season a norm. Incumbent starting running back Mark Ingram has a sense of understanding of the offense Peterson simply can’t possess.

It will surely be interesting to see how Peterson fits in with the Saints. We just can’t expect him to put up his previously normal 1,500-plus yards and double-digit scores.

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