-- Hold on to your hats: the Adrian Peterson-to-Green Bay buzz is gaining traction again.

Over a year after Peterson's tenure with the Minnesota Vikings reached its end and he became a free agent, Peterson has once again been connected to the Green Bay Packers this time around.

Peterson, who led the NFL in rushing yards three times and twice in touchdowns, made an appearance on ESPN Friday to discuss his future plans in 2018.

"Green Bay wouldn't be a bad look," Peterson said unprompted after listing two other teams he would enjoy suiting up for. "There are some options out there. You see around the league, they have a two-back system. Guys aren't pounding the ball 20-30 times a game.

"I think that leaves the door open for a couple of opportunities for me."

Peterson is undoubtedly going to see his name and a bust of his head enshrined in Canton, Ohio when his career is all said and done. But for now, what does he have left in the tank and what can he offer a team like the Packers who already sport one of the league's top up-and-coming backfields?

The answer is not much.

Peterson signed a two-year deal with the New Orleans Saints in April 2017 where he played sparingly in four games. The emergence of rookie Alvin Kamara paired with Mark Ingram -- a duo that formed possibly the league's best rushing tandem -- pushed Peterson out the door in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals.

Peterson played six games for the Cardinals before being placed on injured reserve in December after a neck injury sidelined him for two consecutive games. His last productive season was 2015 -- coincidentally the last time he led the league in rushing yards.

The Packers, meanwhile, rode the coattails of their own electrifying rushing tandem of Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones, drafted in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively.

They're expected to continue their dual responsibilities with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback as opposed to Brett Hundley, who took over after Rodgers broke his collarbone in week 6. That also means less dependency on the ground game, which also likely means slightly fewer opportunities for one running back, let alone two.

This "formula" isn't even including Ty Montgomery, who has shown on multiple occasions that he has the skill set to play running back but also be featured as a chess piece that can be moved into a variety of different positions in the offense.

It goes a little deeper than what the Packers already have stacked on their depth chart.

Peterson has shown deficiencies throughout his career in running out of the shotgun formation (quarterback receiving the snap five-to-seven yards behind the line of scrimmage with either one, two, or no running backs alongside him).

In the 29 games Peterson has played since 2015, he's averaged 2.3 yards per carry when running out of the shotgun. For his career, he has a 3.7 yards per carry average, which is a whole yard less than his overall career average.

Why does this pertain to the Packers? They've operated out of the shotgun formation for a majority of their offensive possessions since 2014.

In 2014, the Packers ran 36.7 percent of their offensive snaps out of the shotgun. In 2015, the percentage slightly decreased to 35.1. However, the massive spike in the last two seasons saw 53.2 percent in 2016 and 48.1 percent in 2017. If there was a greater repellent for the Packers to stray from Peterson, you'd have a hard time finding it.

In each of those four seasons, the shotgun formation was the Packers' most-utilized setup. That could change slightly with former offensive coordinator Joe Philbin back in the building and with coach Mike McCarthy's group taking a "scrub-brush approach" to rebuilding the offense, but for now, Peterson still wouldn't make much sense.

Peterson made a living gashing the Packers' defense in the 17 games he's faced them in his career, amassing 1,779 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also had two games last season after being traded to the Cardinals in which he rushed for over 130 yards (134, 159).

McCarthy said last year that he "thinks the world" of Peterson, and that the Packers weren't ruling out every avenue of acquiring a running back. That, of course, was before the Packers drafted three running backs in the draft a month after his comments.

McCarthy's sentiments may have changed from then to now, and you'd have to even buy into the possibility that he'd put the Packers' young trio of running backs on an even higher of a pedestal in May 2018 than he did Peterson at the time.