Peterson named rookie of the year
Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings was named the 2007 Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the year today. In the 2007 season Peterson broke every Viking rookie rushing record and even set the NFL record for rushing yards in a game with 296 in the game against San Diego on the 4th of November.
He was at the top of the NFC and second in the NFL in rushing yards with a total of 1,341 yards which is part of a total which also happens to be the second highest Vikings yards in a season.
He helped the Vikings along to scoring a new team record for rushing yards in a season with 2,634 yards and together with Chester Taylor who had 844 yards set a new team record for rushing yards by a tandem with 2,185.
He also had 2,021 combined net yards which ranks him second in Vikings history after Herschel Walker who set the record with 2,051 in 1990.
This year nearly 440,00 votes were polled for the Rookie of the Year Award between the 3rd of January and the 28th and this overtook last year’s total of 363,500. Peterson was one of the five finalists who were short listed to receive this award, the others being Dwayne Bowe of the Kansas City Chiefs, running back Marshawn Lycnh of the Buffalo Bills, offensive tackle Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns and linebacker Partick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers.
Each of the finalists were chosen for their outstanding performances through the year and the winner was selected through public voting as is the custom. This is the sixth time Pepsi is sponsoring the NFL Rookie of the year award and the 3rd time running Diet Pepsi will present the award to the winner.