The good news: Week 4 of the Countdown to the Draft is here.
The bad news: I miscounted, and there is still one more week before the draft–and I don’t have a Week 5 in mind yet. I initially thought maybe I would do Mr. Irrelevant, but I’m not sure that I have any cards of a Mr. Irrelevant. But I’ll deal with that later.
This week’s pick: The Draft Stud. He was a stud in college, had a great workout, went early in the draft, and did exactly what he was supposed to do, by playing well right out of the gate, making an impact right away.
There are a lot of examples of this type of player, but I’m going with a guy from my backyard for this week, and pulling a card from the picture in the header above for card of the week: Adrian Peterson
A star as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, setting the freshman rushing record, earning first team All-American and was the runner-up in the Heisman voting, Peterson suffered through injuries to his ankle in his Sophomore season, and a broken collar bone in his junior season, which limited him to just 2,320 yards over those two years. With 4,045 yards rushing in three years, just 74 yards short of Billy Sims school record, Peterson announced he was leaving to go pro.
Despite being considered by many to be the best athlete in the draft, concerns about his shoulder possibly needing surgery caused some early teams to shy away from Peterson early in the draft.
Picking at #7, and with Chester Taylor coming off of a career high 1,216 yards, the Minnesota Vikings selected Peterson, and announced a few weeks later that he would not have surgery on his shoulder.
Starting the season as the back-up, Peterson rushed for 103 yards on 19 carries in his first game against the Atlanta Falcons, and added a 60-yard touchdown reception on a screen pass for his first professional touchdown. He set a team record with 431 yards from scrimmage in his first three games, earning offensive rookie of the month for September.
His breakout performance came against the Chicago Bears on October 14, 2007, when he rushed for a then franchise record 224 yards on 20 carries, with 3 touchdowns. He set team rookie records for most 100-yard games and longest touchdown run as well during the game, and his 361 all-purpose yards set an NFL rookie record, and he also ended up winning offensive rookie of the month for October as well.
Three weeks later, on November 4, against the San Diego Chargers, Peterson set the NFL record for most rushing yardage in a game when he ran for 296 yards on 30 carries, with 3 touchdowns. He became the first rookie to run for over 200 yards in two games in a season, and his 1,036 yards rushing through 8 games is the best eight-game performance by a rookie in NFL history.
Despite missing some time with a knee injury and facing 8-man fronts later in the season, he finished his rookies season with 1,341 yards rushing and 12 rushing TDs, was named the starting running back for the NFC in the Pro Bowl (where he also won the MVP), and was named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The card selected for Peterson is his 2007 Donruss Threads Gridiron King Prime Materials, which features a dual jersey patch from a game used (I think) Oklahoma jersey. The patch on the right features two colors, including stiching from the side of the number. The card is serial numbered #20/25.
Unfortunately, I can’t say that I pulled this card myself–it came from an eBay auction. I can say, fortunately, that I bought it before he blew up–I paid only $32 for the card, which now books for about $150. Chalk one up for the good guys!
As mentioned before, the card is also in the header above–the second card from the header to be featured as Card of the Week. Eventually all of the cards will likely be featured (if I can find a couple of them again)–that, or I might even make a contest out of the header at some point.
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