Adrian Peterson Fantasy Outlook Rises As Lions Likely Lead Back

The Detroit Lions spent a second-round pick on a running back in each of the last two seasons. Conventional wisdom suggested that Kerryon Johnson and D'Andre Swift looked primed for huge roles this season.

But the team curiously elected to sign Adrian Peterson just days before the season. And in just a few short weeks, it seems as if Peterson already has a stranglehold on the starting job.

Peterson played 40 snaps (60%) in Week 3. That's a significantly larger role than Johnson (20 snaps) or Swift (6 snaps) saw in that game.

It almost goes without saying that resulted in Peterson handling a much larger workload. He turned 23 opportunities (22 carries plus 1 target) into 85 yards from scrimmage and 1 touchdown. Meanwhile, Swift and Johnson only combined for 6 opportunities.

Though he played less than Kerryon last week, Swift could potentially hold some upside as the passing-down back since Peterson doesn't contribute much there. The rookie handled 10 targets over the first two weeks of the season while Peterson has just 4 on the year. Kerryon, on the other hand, is dropable in fantasy.

Peterson is best viewed as a low-end RB2 in standard scoring formats, and a low-end FLEX option in PPR leagues.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.