Adrian Peterson will make preseason debut vs. 49ers

Peterson has not played in a preseason game since 2011, being held out of the entire 2012 preseason due to his recovery from knee injury. The veteran running back hasn’t appeared in the first two games this year for precautionary reasons, but it seems that coach Leslie Frazier might want the focus of his offense on the field after two uninspiring efforts by the Vikings to start the season.

Through two games, the starting offense for Minnesota has just one drive of more than three plays or 15 yards. Frazier says that having Peterson on the field will allow the offense to open up more than it has so far.

“Without Adrian Peterson in our scheme, it impacts our offense tremendously because he’s the focal point,” Frazier said. “Yeah, it definitely makes a difference. That will be obvious when we open up the season. It’s obvious if you look at us from a season ago and it showed on Friday night [in a 20-16 loss at Buffalo].”

Peterson fought back from an ACL injury to rush for 2,097 yards in 2012 and came just shy of setting the NFL single-season record for rushing yards, winning the league’s MVP award for the season.

The Vikings will face the 49ers at 8 p.m. ET on NBC on Sunday, Aug. 25.

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