Start or sit Adrian Peterson in Week 2 fantasy football?

If you are looking for a stat line on Adrian Peterson from last week, you won’t find one! He was inactive for a Week 1 matchup against the Eagles. Derrius Guice drew the start and injured his knee. With Guice expected to miss six weeks, Peterson has been named the starting running back for Week 2 against the Cowboys.

Even though Peterson is starting, I am not convinced he is going to see the bulk of the workload. Chris Thompson is still in the mix and the game script sets up better for him than it does for Peterson. After looking good last Sunday, the Cowboys are favored by six points against Washington. As the pass catching back, I think we see Thompson play more of the snaps late in the game as Washington plays catchup. Wendell Smallwood is also likely to play a role.

Fantasy Impact: It is hard for me to get past the quote from coach Jay Gruden regarding Adrian Peterson being inactive last weekend. He said, “So if we have a game where we think we can run the ball 55 times in a game in an I-formation, then sure, I’ll get him up.” Clearly, his words imply that he doesn’t put much value in what Adrian Peterson brings to the table. I don’t feel confident in a large workload in Peterson when we combine the sentiment of Gruden with other viable options in the running game and a poor game script.

Recommendation: Sit