Tennessee Titans Sign NFL Legend in Wake of Derrick Henry's Injury

By Brian Jones

An NFL legend is back in the league. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Tennessee Titans have signed running back Adrian Peterson to the practice squad and plan to elevate him to the active roster. This comes after star running back Derrick Henry injured his foot and could miss as much as 10 weeks of action. He is set to have surgery on his foot Tuesday morning. 

Peterson, 36, confirmed the news with a tweet that said "All Day" while retweeting Rapoport's report. Last year, Peterson played for the Detroit Lions and rushed for 604 yards and seven touchdowns on 156 carries. In his career, Peterson has recorded 14,820 rushing yards, just 449 behind Barry Sanders for the fourth-most in NFL history. 

The Minnesota Vikings selected Peterson No. 7 overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He spent 10 seasons with the Vikings and had his best season in 2012, rushing for 2,097 yards, and 12 touchdowns. His rushing yards total led to him being named Offensive Player of the Year and MVP. In 2017, Peterson signed with the New Orleans Saints but was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in the early stages of the season. In 2018, Peterson signed with the Washington Football Team and spent two seasons with the club. 

Peterson will help a Titans team that is 6-2 on the year. While he is not the same running back he was 10 years ago, he will be a strong addition to the running game, which is something the Titans have been good at with Henry. On Monday, Titans coach Mike Vrabel spoke to reporters and said Henry will be back with the team as soon as possible. 

"I know that Derrick will be around our team as soon as he can," Vrabel said, per the team's official website. "I know that is important to him, and I know that will be important to our team. And we will have to move on. We'll have to move on unfortunately without him in the short term, and not look back." Henry was leading the NFL in rushing yards (937) and rushing touchdowns (10). He's coming off a 2020 season where he rushed for 2,027 yards last year, leading to him being named Offensive Player of the Year. 

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