It's been a long road filled with rehabilitation, overzealous reporting, and a lot of nervous fantasy owners, but Adrian Peterson is back on the field taking snaps at Minnesota Vikings practice.
Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave revealed Tuesday that Peterson would take a "handful" of snaps during the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 portions of practice. The Vikings activated Peterson from the PUP list Sunday and will slowly build up his workload.
Musgrave believes that Week 3 or Week 4 of the preseason is a "realistic" target for the game's best running back. (Sorry Arian Foster.) Peterson will not play in this week's preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
The real test for Peterson will come in live action during practice, and then ideally by the fourth preseason week. Toby Gerhart is likely to handle a big workload early in the season, but just seeing Peterson back on the field would be a big boost to the Vikings' offense.
It also would prove wrong a lot of dire predictions that Peterson would start the year on the shelf.
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