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Adrian Peterson: Gets $20 million guaranteed but there’s a catch

By Dan Zinski

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Adrian Peterson has agreed to a restructured deal with the Vikings that reportedly contains $20 million in guaranteed money, but there’s a little bit of a catch.

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According to Pro Football Talk, part of Peterson’s contract is fully guaranteed and the rest is guaranteed only for injury (via PFT):

"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Peterson’s deal carries $20 million guaranteed at signing. Part of that amount is guaranteed for injury only, for now. The rest is fully guaranteed."

Mike Florio goes on to speculate about the exact structure of Peterson’s contract:

"While the full details have been hard to nail down, common sense suggests that the Vikings fully guaranteed the $13 million Peterson was due to make in 2015, with the other $7 million being an injury-only guarantee until, for example, the start of the 2016 waiver period or the commencement of the 2016 league year."

Common sense has of course been known to be wrong on occasion.

But let’s assume for a second that Florio is correct in his educated guess about the nature of Peterson’s contract.

Under Florio’s scenario, the Vikings just gave Peterson $13 million in guaranteed money for 2015 while creating a virtual contract option for 2016.

If the Vikings are happy with Peterson’s performance after 2015, they can do nothing and Peterson will get $7 million in guaranteed money for 2016. If they’re not happy, they can cut Peterson before the guarantee kicks in and he then will have a chance to sign with another team.

In essence, the Vikings have given Adrian Peterson a one-year guaranteed deal while leaving the door open for him to flee Minnesota in 2016 if they decide he isn’t worth another $7 million, while still building in some protection for Peterson in the event of injury.

In other words, they worked out a perfect compromise.

Florio is only speculating here but it sounds reasonable. If he’s right, get ready for more Adrian Peterson contract drama at the end of the 2015 season.

Next: Bridgewater becoming tight with Wallace

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