Adrian Peterson, presumably, will be playing for some NFL team in 2015.
We just don't know if that team is the Minnesota Vikings. On Wednesday, the Vikings had nothing but praise for their star running back.
Maybe Vikings general manager Rick Spielman talked up Peterson's character and his playing ability and it didn't sound like the Vikings were excited to cut him loose. Maybe that was posturing or for trade value.
"I don't know if there's a team in the NFL that wouldn't want Adrian Peterson on the football team," Spielman said told local reporters, via 1500ESPN.com. "I can't speak for other teams, I'm being a little sarcastic about that.
"Adrian is maybe one of the most unique players I've been around. Where everybody talked about maybe he wouldn't be the same coming off his ACL, but that was his best year coming off that. Knowing Adrian, he's going to play at a very high level when he comes back. I'm anticipating that knowing Adrian from what he's done in the past."
As we know, it's not that easy that the former NFL MVP will just pick up where he left off.
The Vikings can't say much about Peterson's future with them because he is still suspended. Wednesday's meeting with reporters was the first substantial comment on Peterson from the Vikings brass in a long time. In November, Peterson plead no contest to a case in which he was accused of injuring his 4-year-old son with a switch while disciplining him. Peterson, after a messy appeal to the NFL, was suspended for the 2014 season by the NFL and isn't eligible for reinstatement until April 15. So the Vikings can't say too much, which at least buys them some time.
The Vikings have to look at it from two angles. The first is if they want to deal with the attention from bringing Peterson back after such a controversy. Spielman's comments defended Peterson as a person.
"I know that Adrian [Peterson] is a good person, just being around him," Spielman said, according to 1500ESPN.com. "I know he's done a lot of good in this community. What he did, he's come out and said he made a mistake. As 'Zim' [coach Mike ZImmer] said earlier, he has to get that in order and we'll proceed from there."
There's another part of it, and that's the football side. Peterson will turn 30 on March 21. He has a $12.75 million base salary due in 2015, which is a lot for any running back in this age when the position is being marginalized. Even if Peterson can come back at 30 after a year layoff and play at his normal elite level, are the Vikings better off moving on, especially if they can find a trade partner? We don't know what the organization is really thinking on the matter.
"Is there a resolution? Not right now," Spielman said. "All I know is where we stand today. Does that change? I'm sure it's going to change ... Right now, we have Adrian Peterson, who is under contract next year, who is currently suspended by the NFL. That's pretty much all I can go into right now."
This is going to be one of the biggest stories of the offseason, an all-time great player coming off a very controversial year, and we don't know yet where he'll be playing next season once he gets reinstated. All we can do now is guess what the future holds for him.
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