The Adrian Peterson trade looks like a win-win for Saints and Cardinals

The New Orleans Saints made a stir last week when they traded running back Adrian Peterson to the Arizona Cardinals. It was easy to look at Peterson’s lack of production with the Saints and the Cardinals’ shaky offensive line and come to the conclusion that the 32-year-old wouldn’t be much better off in Arizona than he was in New Orleans.

Wrong.

The seven-time Pro Bowler finished the game with 26 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns in his debut with the Cardinals. He was the bell cow running back the Cardinals needed. He also helped take some pressure off quarterback Carson Palmer in a 38-33 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Saints saw immediate improvements in their running game too. The focus returned to feeding running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara tons of touches in a wild 52-38 win against the Detroit Lions.

Both teams are better off than they were before.

Saints head coach Sean Payton wants to complement his high-octane passing attack with a two-back backfield, meaning two running backs will receive carries. When the Saints signed Peterson over the offseason and drafted Kamara in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, they wanted to pair those two with Ingram.

That plan did not work. During New Orleans’ Week 1 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Peterson only played nine snaps, and he wasn’t happy about that. After the game, he told reporters that he “didn’t sign up for nine snaps” per game with the Saints.

But Peterson didn’t see an increase in playing time. In four games with the Saints, he carried the ball 27 times for 81 yards. Ingram and Kamara combined for 57 rushes for 253 yards and two total touchdowns.

There wasn’t a place for Peterson in that crowded backfield.

So New Orleans traded Peterson to Arizona, which led to more snaps for Ingram and Kamara. Ingram collected a season-high 25 carries for 114 yards and two touchdowns against Detroit on Sunday. He also caught five passes for 36 yards. Going forward, Ingram will have an edge in the overall workload for Saints running backs, getting carries on first and second downs as well as in goal line situations.

The real winner for the Saints in the Peterson trade is Kamara. He chipped in with a season-high 10 carries for 75 yards and caught four passes for 12 yards. New Orleans has been high on Kamara’s fit there since the snagging the Tennessee product in the third round of this year’s draft. He’s an explosive runner who’ll get more work in the passing game and out of the backfield now.

After the game, Ingram told ESPN’s Mike Triplett that he and Kamara complement each other really well, but he didn’t take any shots at Peterson.

“That’s not saying that me and Adrian wouldn’t complement each other well or A.D. and Alvin wouldn’t complement each other well,” Ingram said. “We just [had] three great running backs in one room, and we’re trying to get everybody into a rhythm, everybody into a flow. So nobody was getting into a flow really.”

Indeed, Ingram and Kamara finally got into a flow but so did Peterson.

Since running back David Johnson went down with a wrist injury in Week 1, the Cardinals were in need of a running back who could handle the bulk of the carries. Unlike the Saints, Arizona doesn’t employ a two-back system. The Cardinals wanted a bell cow.

Peterson is a volume runner who needs plenty of carries to get going. And even at 32 years old, he proved to fans that he can still run the ball like he used to. During the first drive against the Tampa Bay, Peterson ran the ball three times for 27 yards before running in a 27-yard touchdown.

Peterson is a physical back who can still plow over almost any defender who gets in his way — 72 of his 81 yards with the Saints this year came after contact. That’s another thing the Cardinals were missing without Johnson.

He can still juke players out of their shoes too.

After the game, Peterson told ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss that he feels good.

“This is the opportunity I have been waiting for. Like I said, I got that call on Tuesday and I was rejuvenated. My wife even saw it. She said, ‘It’s like a boulder was just lifted off your back.’ I knew I was going to have the opportunity I was waiting for and it’s all about taking advantage of it.”

Peterson looked like he had most of that same burst and power that made him a star. The Saints didn’t give him enough carriers to showcase that. Now that Peterson is in an offense that supplies him with 20-plus carries, he’s going to show New Orleans what they missed out on.

Most NFL trades tend to be salary dumps or a way for struggling teams to get more draft capital. It’s rare to see a win-win trade paying immediate dividends, especially when it involves a running back on the wrong side of 30. But the Peterson deal might have been the shot in the arm both teams needed.