RB Adrian Peterson (Minnesota)

Peterson didn’t repeat the 2000 rushing yard season he had in 2012, but he still impressed, rushing for 1266 yards and 10 touchdowns on 279 carries, an average of 4.54 YPC. In his career, he’s rushed for 10,115 yards (already 27th all-time) and 86 touchdowns on 2033 carries, an average of 4.98 YPC. There is minor concern with his age as he goes into his age 29 season with 2033 career carries and he’s not the pass catcher that either Jamaal Charles or LeSean McCoy is, but he’s locked in as a top-3 running back.

310 carries for 1460 yards and 12 touchdowns, 32 catches for 250 yards (243 pts standard)

WR Greg Jennings (Minnesota)

Jennings was dominant in Green Bay from 2007-2011, averaging 2.12 yards per route run over that stretch (5532 yards on 2604 routes). However, he missed 3 games with injury in 2011 and then another 8 in 2012 and that seemed to sap his abilities. He averaged just 1.28 yards per route run in 2012 and, though he was healthier last year, he averaged just 1.62 yards per route run. Going into his age 31 season, there isn’t a lot of upside here.

61 catches for 760 yards and 4 touchdowns (100 pts standard)

WR Cordarelle Patterson (Minnesota)

The 29th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, Patterson flashed his incredible athleticism, rushing for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns on 12 carries and returning 43 kickoffs for 1393 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also averaged 6.4 yards per catch after the catch and broke 10 tackles on 45 catches, but he showed serious issues with route running, catching just 10 passes farther than 10 yards downfield and just 3 passes farther than 20 yards downfield. He was limited primarily to short routes and screens and also dropped 5 passes. He caught 45 passes on 72 targets (62.5%) for 469 yards and 4 touchdowns on 292 routes run (1.61 yards per route run). He’s expected to have a bigger role in his 2nd year in the league and he has the natural ability to have a breakout year, but he’s only going into his age 23 season so there should be no surprises if he continues to be raw.

56 catches for 720 yards and 5 touchdowns, 120 rushing yards (114 pts standard)

TE Kyle Rudolph (Minnesota)

Kyle Rudolph only averaged 1.11 yards per route run in his first 2 seasons in the league, as the big bodied tight end was used primarily as a blocker and ran just 30.1% of his routes off of the line of scrimmage.  In 2013, he looked on his way to a much better receiving year, as he averaged 1.34 yards per route run, running about 40.3% of his routes from off the line. Unfortunately, he went down for the season with a foot injury after 8 games. However, now he returns for his contract year and tight end guru Norv Turner is coming in. Rudolph has slimmed down to 6-6 260 from 275 and will be used more as a pass catcher and line up all over the formation in passing situations, much like Turner did with Antonio Gates in San Diego and Jordan Cameron in Cleveland. It wouldn’t be ridiculous to expect him to average 1.50 yards per route run (especially with better quarterback play) and for him to be 2nd on the team in receiving.

58 catches for 720 yards and 6 touchdowns (108 pts standard)

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