Adrian Peterson signs with the New Orleans Saints

FInally, after months of waiting, Adrian Peterson has finally found a new home with the Saints. Rejoice everyone!

So let’s get right into it. Is this a good move for Peterson? Is it a good move for the Saints? Is he a good move for your fantasy team?

To me, Peterson’s best value for a team is in the red zone. He has lost a step in the speed department but still has the bruising power and never-go-down attitude that makes for a great back when there’s only 20-yards to go. Can a solely red zone back have fantasy value? Of course. Just look at LeGarrette Blount!

I wrote a while back looking at the best landing spots for Peterson and I had listed the Saints as one of those teams. Here were my thoughts then:

The allure of New Orleans stems from them living in the red zone. No team ran more plays in the red zone last year than the Saints (199, the next best was Atlanta with 184). This of course creates plenty of rushing opportunities which the Saints distributed between Mark Ingram (36 carries inside the 20) and Tim Hightower (26). However, Hightower is now a free agent and remains unsigned.

Could the Saints bring in Peterson to replace Hightower? In real life, probably/100% not. But for fantasy purposes, the pairing makes a bit of sense. Hightower, even in his limited role, finished top 35 in total points scored among running backs last year with 104.8 points. That’s better than James White, Derrick Henry and T.J. Yeldon. It would be safe to assume that if the Saints brought in Peterson, his role would increase simply because he’s Adrian Peterson, and that might involve taking red zone shares from Ingram.

Ignore the part where I said this would never actually happen. Clearly I was wrong. But don’t ignore the fact that the Saints even last year shared touches in the red zone and that split is bound to increase with a back—and to be quite honest, name—like Peterson in the backfield.

The biggest takeaway from this: sorry Mark Ingram fans.