I feel like we’ve been here before.

Oh, that’s right, we were having this same discussion a year ago when long-time NFL running back Adrian Peterson hit the open market after nearly a decade in Minnesota.

Now, according to an article form Florida Football Insiders, we might be having that discussion again.

In 2017, it was reported that Peterson was a player the Bucs were considering, but we all know that never ended up coming to fruition. Instead, Peterson signed a two-year, $7 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints, a deal that proved to be a bad one on both sides, as Peterson was traded from the Saints in October to the Arizona Cardinals.

Cardinals RB Adrian Peterson – Photo by: Getty Images

When he arrived in Arizona, the Bucs were his first victim. After failing to record even 10 carries in a game in his first four games in New Orleans, Peterson was given 26 carries in his Cardinals debut, which was against the Buccaneers, and he amassed 134 yards and two touchdowns while doing so. Two weeks later he rushed for 159 yards on 37 carries, but after that he failed to get it going up until a neck injury ended his 2017 season prematurely.

With David Johnson coming back, the Cardinals chose not to re-sign Peterson, so now he sits in the open market as a free agent.

Should he be a Bucs target?

Peterson signed a two-year, $7 million dollar deal with the Saints last year, which was a massive pay cut from what he was getting in Minnesota, but even that deal proved to be too rich. If you figure he’ll likely get less this time around, are the Bucs in a sweet spot to pick up an extra running back who just might have a high ceiling for a few games, if needed?

Right now the team’s starting backs are shaping up to be Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones. The team likes Barber, but his sample size for success is small. Even though Peterson isn’t the back he used to be, his two best games were far better than any that Barber or the rest of the Bucs running backs had in 2017. Jones, on the other hand, has plenty of potential but is still just a rookie, and that always comes with an unknown.

If you figure the Bucs were going to keep their eyes open for a veteran running back anyways, since Jacquizz Rodgers is on the last year of his deal and likely won’t be in Tampa Bay much longer, and the team waited as long as they did to bring back Charles Sims, is Peterson more of an option (a better option) in 2018 than he was in 2017 when the Buccaneers passed on him?