Vikings camp battle to know: The race to succeed Adrian Peterson is on

The Minnesota Vikings' run game is as intriguing as it has ever been

Minnesota Vikings training camp is officially underway with the team looking to rebound from a 3-8 finish to the 2016 season. By all accounts, it was a strange year for the team, but changes they have made this offseason could propel them to the top of the NFC North standings.

Two stalwarts are no longer with the team in linebacker Chad Greenway and, more notably, running back Adrian Peterson. The star defined the last decade or so of Vikings football, and the team finds itself now in a situation where things will look very different in the backfield.

The starting lineup looks close to set in stone outside of the players that will wind up filling the voids left by Greenway and Peterson. However, the running game could be a bigger factor in this team's rebound and will be the biggest storyline that fans are keeping an eye on during the preseason.

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The contenders in the backfield

The Peterson era came to an end in 2017 when the Vikings announced that they would not be picking up his team option for the 2017 season. It took Peterson awhile to land a job, eventually signing with the New Orleans Saints, but Minnesota got to work right away following the departure of the face of their franchise.

Latavius Murray, formerly of the Oakland Raiders, signed with the Vikings on March 17, and the team felt like they had their starting running back right then and there. The 2014 sixth-round selection rushed for 2,278 yards and 20 touchdowns in his first three seasons in the league. However, the concerns remain about his injured ankle, which he had surgically repaired this offseason, and he opened training camp on the PUP list.

It was not until the NFL Draft that the Vikings felt thrilled about their future at running back. Without a first-round pick, it was seen as difficult to land one of the draft's top talents at the position, but it wound up happening anyways when Dalvin Cook was available in Round 2.

Cook enters training camp as the favorite for the starting job, especially given Murray's current injury predicament. He is already being touted as the next star at running back, but he brings a much different skill set than Peterson did. Cook is a true home run threat that is good catching the ball out of the backfield. Sam Bradford set the single-season completion percentage record in 2016 due in large part to short passes, and the Florida State product's playmaking ability could help those throws be more effective.

SportsLine projects Murray and Cook to basically split touches evenly but has Murray scoring twice as many rushing touchdowns as the rookie:

	RuAtt	RuYd	RuAvg	RuTD	Recpt	ReYd	ReAvg	ReTD	FP*
Latavius Murray	157	560	3.6	8	25	168	6.6	0	120
Dalvin Cook	142	558	3.9	4	30	206	6.8	1	106
Jerick McKinnon	84	300	3.6	2	26	155	5.9	1	65

*Fantasy points

Lost in the shuffle has been Jerick McKinnon, who was expected to be in for a bigger role than he may get now after Cook was drafted. However, he should still be able to find a role as a change-of-pace back that can be a weapon in the passing game on third downs.

Bishop Sankey and Terrell Newby will battle it out for the fourth running back spot.

The Verdict

Should Murray be healthy and ready to go in time for the regular season, it would not be a huge surprise to see him be the "lead" back on the team in terms of rushing attempts, but the opportunity for Cook to be the best and most valuable back is there, and he will be given every chance by the coaching staff.

Cook has to improve his pass protection skills, and there are some durability concerns, but some believe that he is every bit as talented as guys like Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey, two guys who were selected in the top 10 picks of the draft.

Murray is a touchdown machine, having scored 12 of them last season, and there is no reason to expect him to not get those opportunities in Minnesota. A backfield of Cook and Murray has the potential to be one of the best one-two punches in the league, provided the offensive line can improve in front of them. That was a struggle last season and a big part of why the run game was almost non-existent.