There's always love for backups. And then the tape catches up to them and defensive coordinators adjust, or the hits pile up and they have a gut check. There's no getting around that. It's definitely an unknown..
It's also an unknown which Demarco Murray you get after last year's carries and a contract extension are taken into account. Personally, I'm thinking we'd be looking at about 85% of the production we got last year, declining from there. For me, that's just based on his age and his carries. There's a number I'd be willing to pay for that, but it's not a big number. Otherwise, I obviously love the player.
So the question for me is, would Randle or Williams be as good or nearly as good as 85% of 2014 Murray? The answer is 'probably not. Maybe nearly as good, but that's still iffy.' Peterson, I think would be an upgrade over 2014 Murray, straight up. That's based on what I've seen of the defenses he's run against the last few years with the rest of that MIN offense around him. Problem for me is, all that said, I still don't care very much how effective a RB is. I want a guy who can pass protect and hold onto the football. And then I want us to spend money making it hard to pass against a bad defense. So, while there's a number for a player like Peterson, and I would make an exception for him for his age and salary, there are limits to what I think is reasonable.
Honestly, the option of picking up a Tevin Coleman or a David Cobb in rounds 2-4 and rolling with a committee is just fine by me. About the only thing I don't want to do is overcommit a ton of cap space that we'll be dealing with in future years when it comes time to sign Frederick or Martin. It's one thing to hit on your first round picks. Another entirely if you can't afford to keep the ones that pan out.
