With the new league year now officially underway, it’s time for the Vikings to make a call on disgruntled employee Adrian Peterson and his $12.75 million salary.
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Perhaps hoping to move the process along at least one more tiny step, Peterson traveled to New York Monday to meet personally with the Wilf family and GM Rick Spielman. The meeting was characterized as a continuation of last week’s Houston get-together involving Peterson, Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer.
Read into this what you will, but Peterson reportedly flew commercial from Houston to New York for the meeting. Some think it’s a big deal that the Wilfs didn’t send their private plane to go pick up the one-time face of their franchise.
Were the Wilfs sending a message to Peterson by making him get his own flight? Maybe. But to me the time has passed for sending indirect messages. It’s time now to just hash this thing out and move forward.
That hashing may have taken place Monday in New York. Peterson predictably would offer no details about what happened in the meeting, telling Ben Goessling of ESPN “I’m just waiting to see what happens.”
Everyone’s just waiting to see what will happen. The best thing for the Vikings would be a speedy resolution now that Peterson and the Wilfs have had a chance to speak to each other directly. Dragging this thing out any further would only make life harder for the front office as they try to work their free agency and draft plan.
If the Vikings do trade Peterson, it’s believed they would receive no more than a fourth round pick in return. Peterson has said he would restructure his contract to make a trade work. The Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys are the teams most often mentioned as potential landing spots for Peterson.
If the Vikings cut the former All-Pro running back, they would clear nearly $13 million in cap space to use on other free agents. While other teams have scrambled to sign new players in the opening days of free agency, the Vikings have sat back making minor deals with spare parts like Matt Asiata and Shaun Hill.
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