Mike Zimmer is going to get very very sick of answering questions about Adrian Peterson, if he isn’t already.
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The question being asked right now is “will Adrian Peterson report for offseason activities and if so, when?”
And the answer? According to Zimmer, there is no answer. But there is perhaps an indication.
In a talk this afternoon, Zimmer gave a response to a Peterson query that when tweeted by Andrew Krammer came out sounding slightly odd.
It’s up to Adrian how much money he is willing to forfeit by not reporting. Ben Goessling recently revealed that Peterson’s contract only pays out a $250K work out bonus if he reports for 90% of OTAs. So, if Peterson misses more than one OTA session, he kisses goodbye a quarter-of-a-million dollars.
The threat of financial loss could be the only thing capable of inducing Peterson to return at this point. I’m not sure loyalty to the organization is a motivating factor for Peterson as things stand.
The other big issue is the media. The second Peterson reports, he’ll become the center of attention not just for local media types but ESPN and all the national big-shots.
I’m sure Peterson would just as soon put off that nightmare as long as possible. So don’t be surprised if he willingly gives away that $250,000. To him it’s probably a small price to pay to avoid the cameras.
Things really get hairy when minicamp comes along and the team can begin fining Peterson. By one estimation, Peterson would give away nearly $500,000 if he decides to miss minicamp and training camp.
Like Mike Zimmer says, it’s up to Adrian.
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