Adrian Peterson placed on injured reserve

The Minnesota Vikings officially placed Adrian Peterson on injured reserve on Friday following his successful knee surgery.

Peterson injured his knee during Sunday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers. At the time he was unable to put any weight on the affected leg, but questions swirled the following day when rumors he might be back quickly circulated.

However, after discussing his options with the Vikings, Peterson opted for surgery to repair his torn meniscus — an operation that will keep him out “several months.”

By placing him on IR, the Vikings still have the option to bring him back in December, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media. However, it might come down to either Peterson or offensive tackle Matt Kalil, who was also placed on IR.

This is a big blow to the Vikings’ offense, as quarterback Sam Bradford discussed.

“Obviously, it’s hard to replace a running back like Adrian Peterson,” Bradford said, per NFL.com. “When Adrian is in the game, everyone is loading the box, trying to stop the run, which gives us a lot of one-on-one matchups on the outside. It also makes our play action pretty effective. When they see him coming downhill, everyone is stepping up to stop the run. There are some things we took advantage of with him in the game. We’ll have to see how defenses will play us from here on out.”

In his stead, Jerick McKinnon will start for Minnesota, which also signed Ronnie Hillman for depth.

If all goes well and Peterson recovers quickly, as he is known to do, he could still potentially have a huge contribution to the team’s success in the playoffs.