Red Zone Play: Should Texans Sign Adrian Peterson? All Day!

While many people seem to be clamoring for Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith to sign Colin Kaepernick to fill the void in the quarterback room, the reasons why that won’t work are many and obvious to anyone who truly understands Houston Texans football. Not only would signing Kaep require re-tooling the offense, a colossal waste of effort considering how much time has been spent teaching the current system to last year’s new players, it would also require ditching Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden for QBs better versed in a system that uses the field general as a rushing threat.

While Kaep may not be so plug-and-play that Houston is jumping at him, another former great may be.

Adrian Peterson should go down as one of the best A-gap runners in NFL history. In fact, if you remove bruisers like Earl Campbell and Jerome Bettis, Peterson and Jim Brown are possibly tied for the best to ever race between the center and guard.

For anyone who was paying attention last year, Houston’s current offensive playbook seems to have a ‘run up the A-gap’ diagram on every other page, much to current alpha tailback Lamar Miller’s chagrin.

Adrian Peterson is reportedly in New Orleans today taking meetings with the Saints’ brass, presumably with the idea that he could sign for far less than bell cow money. With that in mind, why wouldn’t Houston match, or slightly better, that offer? Let’s face it: Houston is far closer to a Super Bowl championship than New Orleans at this point.

A first half of hammering the defense with Adrian Peterson would open up a lot for the Texans’ offense. It would create breathing room for Tom Savage, or whomever is under center, allowing more time for DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller and Braxton Miller to make plays. It would give the offensive line time to pin their ears back and plow forward. “Establish the run to set up the pass,” the old mantra of offensive coordinators, would come into effect.

Most importantly, it would:

A) Take some wear and tear off Lamar Miller.

and

B) Beat down the opposing front seven so that when Miller does come nto the game, his fresh legs would hit the edge faster than anyone in a non-Texans jersey.

Essentially, signing Peterson to a cap-friendly contract at this stage in the year would be a no-brainer. The guy even lives in The Woodlands and drives into Houston almost daily to work out at his elite gym downtown.

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment though and explore why this might not be a good idea.

• Some say Peterson is too far past his prime to contribute.
• His off-field issues from a few years ago may undermine fan support of the Texans organization.
• His perceived ‘star power’ may shine too bright in the Houston locker room, disrupting team chemistry.
• To some extent, he’s considered injury prone at this stage of his career, not unlike Texans’ legend Arian Foster.

Each of those detracting statements can be dismissed with relative ease. In the end, a tailback like Peterson, who stills seems to have another year or two left in the tank, could bring the offensive firepower that propels Houston back to the top of the AFC South and beyond. Just having him on the sideline, elevating the game of those around him, might be the spark this offense needs to ensure J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Houston’s all-world defense doesn’t battle in vain in 2017.

All that being said, Peterson may not make it out of NOLA without a contract today. If he does, Rick Smith needs to pick up the phone, talk AP into a hometown discount, and get him in a Battle Red jersey.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Prefer to banter about the ALL FIELD GOAL OFFENSE? Are you convinced Houston needs nothing else to secure a world championship this season or have you already written off 2017? Let us know in the comments below.