Adrian Peterson told Ben Goessling of ESPN.com that he is “still uneasy” about the prospect of returning to the Vikings in 2015. The 2012 NFL MVP said the organization working with the NFL to put him on the commissioner’s exempt list last September made him question how much support he had from the team for whom he has played his entire career.
“It shows you can have all the loyalty toward someone and toward an organization, a fanbase, but when things really shift and it’s you or the empire, they’re gonna put you out on a leash,” he said. “I said, ‘Of course (I would love to come back to the Vikings, after a court hearing in Minneapolis on Feb. 6).’ I said it. But my emotions, as far as those things I feel, those are for players like (linebacker) Chad Greenway, those guys that play the game just like me, that have the same passion I have, the same goal I have, to win a championship. That’s where it comes from. It don’t come from the organization. I’m not in a good place when it comes to that.”
The Vikings have tried to mend fences, with GM Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer reaching out to Peterson, but that has been to no avail so far, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Peterson seems intent on a fresh start somewhere else and if that happens, it’ll come via trade (link) since the Vikings do not plan on cutting AD.
Peterson is under contract for 2015, and is scheduled to earn a base salary of $12.75MM. All of the key Vikings figures, including Spielman, Zimmer, and team president Mark Wilf, have publicly made it known that they expect to have Peterson playing for them in 2015. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t sound like No. 28 is on board with that plan.