Adrian Peterson has been demoted from Saint to Cardinal.
Peterson carried the ball for New Orleans 27 times for 81 yards this season, with an average of 3.0 yards per carry. He argued with head coach Sean Payton on the sidelines in his first game with the team, though he said that he was just telling his coach that “we need to run the ball up their donkey.”
Adam Schefter says the Saints were moved to trade Peterson due to the play of rookie Alvin Kamara. He’s averaging 5.5 yards on his 15 carries this year, but he also has 20 catches over four games for the Saints. Mark Ingram, the Saints’ starting RB, has 170 yards on 42 carries this season.
The Cardinals have struggled to run the ball this season, especially since David Johnson went to the IR with a wrist injury in Week 1. In five games this season, they’ve rushed for just 259 yards. Chris Johnson, re-signed after David Johnson’s injury, leads the team with 114 yards—on 2.5 yards a carry. Peterson can burn out his knees as he tries to improve that ground game.