Who remembers the original Adrian Peterson playing for the Chicago Bears?
3. Adrian Peterson, RB
With the career that future Hall-of-Famer Adrian Peterson has had for the Vikings, it can be very easy to forget about former Chicago Bear Adrian Peterson. Peterson was pretty much a career backup for Chicago over an eight-year career.
He was only a starter for four games over the course of his surprisingly long career. Even more surprising in my opinion, was that he spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears. Which, even in his era, was not a normal thing, particularly for a back-up.
In his eight years in the NFL Peterson rushed for 1283 yards, on 311 carries, and 8 touchdowns. Good for a YPC (yards per carry) of over 4.0. So all in all he was someone who did a decent enough job when touching the ball.
The problem with him was that there were just better players in front of him. He was behind Thomas Jones for years and then the Bears drafted Texas star Cedric Benson in 2005, which pushed Peterson to number three on the depth chart.
Again Peterson wasn’t necessarily ever used in a featured role, but he was someone who Chicago could rely on when needed.