11:15am: An effort will be made by Peterson’s camp to move the trial up to November 18, even though it’s currently set for December 1, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
10:57am: The trial for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been tentatively scheduled for December 1, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! (via Twitter). Robinson reports that the trial has the potential to move up a week or two into November if another case falls off the docket.
Peterson has been placed on the exempt/commissioner’s permission list by the Vikings, with the expectation that a decision will be made on his status once the legal process plays out. Still, while his trial is now scheduled to take place before the end of the 2014 season, it seems extremely unlikely that Peterson will play again this season, tweets Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report. The running back would have to be found not guilty of child abuse charges, and the Vikings and the NFL would both have to make the decision to reinstate him from the exempt list, with only a few games remaining.
The more likely outcome would see Peterson return for the 2015 season, though depending on the outcome of his trial, he could face further discipline from the league before seeing the field again. It’s also not clear if the Vikings will keep the NFL’s former rushing leader under contract into next season, when he’ll carry a cap hit of $15.4MM.