When it comes to the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson has a prominent place in team history. But if former Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had his way, it may have never happened.
The Arizona Cardinals were one of several teams that passed on Peterson during the 2007 draft, but according to former general manager Steve Keim, the future Hall of Famer was definitely on the table, and Arizona came close to altering the history of the Vikings and the NFL.
“I was dying to have Adrian Peterson on our team, and the room was divided,” Keim told Nathan Kropp, who is known as Mr. AZ on social media. “A number of our coaches wanted Levi Brown, and needless to say, we still made it to the Super Bowl. I will say that. But at the same time, people always say, ‘Are running backs devalued?’ I think when you have a special back, whether it’s Adrian Peterson or [Jeremiyah Love], who they just drafted from Notre Dame, I think you just take them and never look back.”
An Arizona Cardinals draft whiff helped the Minnesota Vikings land running back Adrian Peterson
It may shock Vikings fans to learn that there can be disagreements in the front office during the draft. But the Cardinals were a strong candidate to select Peterson, who had established himself as a phenom at Oklahoma before the 2007 draft.
While Arizona made the Super Bowl in 2008, they did so averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and were led by 30-year-old Edgerrin James’s 514 rushing yards. Arizona tried to fix the problem by taking Beanie Wells with the 31st overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, but he lasted just four seasons in the league, and the Cardinals were bounced in the divisional round of that year’s playoffs.
Peterson also could have helped with an 11-5 Cardinals team in 2014 and a 13-3 team that went to the conference championship in 2015. But instead, they took Brown, who played six seasons in the NFL but wasn’t anywhere close to the impact Peterson had on Vikings history.
An immediate impact player in Minnesota, Peterson ran for 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns on his way to winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2007. The strong impression would last for 10 seasons with the Vikings, where he became the franchise’s all-time leader with 11,747 rushing yards and 97 rushing touchdowns.
A four-time First-Team All-Pro selection and a seven-time Pro Bowler, Peterson was the face of the franchise up until his release in the spring of 2017. He was also the last non-quarterback to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, leading the Vikings to the playoffs with 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns during the 2012 season.
But there are other ripple effects if Peterson didn’t become a Viking. Chester Taylor would have continued as the lead back after recording a 1,000-yard season in 2006, but he wouldn’t have generated the same buzz that Peterson did when he arrived the following season.
Without Peterson in place, the Vikings may not have had the core that lured Brett Favre to Minnesota, perhaps derailing any chance of reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2009.
An even bigger effect may be the loss of a fan base whose cries for a new stadium got louder upon Peterson’s arrival. While it may have gotten done eventually, that interest helped gain funding approval for U.S. Bank Stadium in 2012, giving the Vikings one of the best stadiums in the NFL.
The 2007 draft could have given the Vikings a similar impact player with current Hall of Famers Patrick Willis and Darrelle Revis along with former Seattle Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch on the board with the 7th overall pick. But it definitely wouldn’t have put Peterson into the Vikings’ Ring of Honor this fall and made things look very different if Keim won his argument in the Cardinals’ war room.
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