Vikings Place Adrian Peterson on Exempt/Commissioner’s List

With the intense backlash surrounding the Minnesota Vikings decision to activate Adrian Peterson on Monday, the team is quickly going into damage control mode.  Many of the team and player sponsors were withdrawing from their partnerships with the team and public relations were taking a huge hit.  Even the hospitals around Minnesota didn’t want the Minnesota Vikings players visiting their sick children.

It was announced through Fox Sports NFL on their official twitter page early this morning that Adrian Peterson would be placed on the Exempt/Commissioner’s Permission list.  Here is the tweet announcing this move:

Sep 7, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) looks on during the second half against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. The Vikings defeated the Rams 34-6. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Personally, I’ve never heard of the Exempt/Commissioner’s Permission list.  However this designation will allow Adrian Peterson to remain a member of the Vikings team as long as he doesn’t attend any team functions until this situation is resolved.  That means that Peterson will most likely not be a member of the active roster for a long, long time but he will not count against the team’s roster until he is removed from this designation.

For now, this leaves the combination of Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon as well as the freshly promoted Joe Banyard to handle the duties at running back.  While this isn’t an ideal situation for the team from a pure football standpoint, I understand that the legal process has to be done in order to figure out what kind of discipline the NFL and/or the Vikings will hand down to Adrian Peterson.

There will be a lot more coming on this Adrian Peterson situation.  Sadly, this could draw out a long, long time.