Is Adrian Peterson going to be the Next Barry Sanders?

In the history of the NFL there have been many disappointments, but maybe none bigger than the story of the great Barry Sanders. Barry Sanders played his whole career for the Detroit Lions and had ran for 15,269 yards (just 1,457 yards of the record for running backs) in the 9 years he played for the Lions while gaining the reputation as being one of the most elusive running backs in the history of the NFL. The highlights of Sanders' career has many ankle breaking moves and a bunch of defensive players attempting to tackling Sanders, but missing wildly. Unfortunately though the Detroit Lions weren't ever good enough to break through to win the Super Bowl with Sanders. One of the reasons for Barry Sanders' unexpected retirement was that all the losing. All the losing took away from his competitive spirit and that is understandable. While watching him play I felt bad for Barry Sanders because the goal for all great players is to win the Super Bowl and with all the offensive turmoil that Detroit had suffered through the chances for Barry were small to win the big prize.

In today's NFL the best running back in the game is Adrian Peterson. While his game is different than Barry Sanders' the same affliction is falling upon him. The Minnesota Vikings made the playoffs last year, but that was part miracle and because Peterson had probably the season of his career rushing for 2,097 yards coming off a repair of his ACL which is unheard of. This year the Minnesota Vikings are 1-6 on the season which is appropriate considering that the team has a serious lack of talent at very important positions on the team. The Vikings aren't going anywhere anytime soon and yet they hold onto Peterson the same way the Lions held onto Sanders. If Peterson were to be traded to a contending team he would break the rushing record because the fire of competing for a championship year in and year out would reinvigorate his career. As the trade deadline gets closer I'm hoping to see an Adrian Peterson trade for his sakes and so that history doesn't repeat itself and we lose out on watching another great running back end his career too soon.