Adrian Peterson Probably Won't Retire

With OTAs here and Adrian Peterson still in Texas, speculation is growing more heated as to how this whole situation will finally resolve itself.

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I don’t know very much for sure but there’s one thing I’m fairly certain about: Adrian Peterson will not retire to avoid playing for the Vikings in 2015.

Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com raised the prospect of Peterson using retirement or at least the threat of retirement as a desperate last-ditch ploy to force whatever outcome he is trying to get:

"Furthermore, some who have talked to Peterson with regularity since his trip to the Commissioner’s Exempt List, say he has ruminated on the possibility of retirement more than once, and has seemed less than enthusiastic about the prospect of playing professional football more than once. He has maintained a posture that he would go to great lengths to not have to play for the Vikings again."

Yeah but retire?

Peterson maybe wants to get traded out of Minnesota, probably to the Cowboys. Or maybe he wants the Vikings to give him some guaranteed money.

If he retires, he gets neither of those things.

All he gets by retiring is a sort of revenge against the Vikings, who by all accounts regard him as a major piece of the puzzle for 2015.

Maybe he just wants the threat of retirement to be out there, the idea being that if the Vikings really think they need him, they’ll eventually have to cave in and pay him to keep him from just walking away.

That’s a bluff that I think Rick Spielman can feel comfortable calling. The Vikings probably are a better team with Adrian Peterson, but they can still win without Adrian Peterson.

And let’s not forgot that Adrian Peterson is 30 and missed almost all of last year. There’s a very good chance that he’s already done or close to done.

You could argue that Peterson would actually be doing the Vikings a favor by retiring. If Peterson leaves, the Vikings don’t have to pay him (his contract may not be fully guaranteed now but as a veteran his 2015 salary does become guaranteed if he’s on the roster when the season starts). And it saves them the distraction of having to deal with endless questions about Peterson.

Peterson may be delusional enough to think retiring would send the Vikings’ plans into total disarray, but that’s not the case. The roster may not be loaded with running back talent, but the Vikings managed to run the ball okay last year even without Peterson.

And if Teddy Bridgewater keeps developing, his passing will open up more things for the running backs they do have. Bridgewater is the key player in this equation, not Peterson.

If you add it all up, to me, it doesn’t make sense for Peterson to retire. The stories about his desire being gone sound like the posturing of a man who is unhappy and looking to be shown more love than he is getting (it sounds kind of Brett Favrish, frankly).

The Vikings can just sit here and watch the pieces fall into place. And when the season begins, I have a feeling Peterson will be on the field in purple. He may not be happy, but he’ll be there.

Probably.

Next: Zimmer Has Already Threatened to Maim Danielle Hunter

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Adrian Peterson Probably Won’t Retire

By Dan Zinski | May 26, 2015

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