A report from Fox Sports says Adrian Peterson nearly retired from the NFL amid this year’s offseason woes to pursue a completely different and unlikely career path.
According to Peter Schrager, a frustrated Peterson mulled giving up football entirely in order to train for the Olympics.
But in the end Peterson decided to stick with this football thing a little longer.
The Vikings were rumored to be shopping Peterson at various points throughout the offseason but ultimately kept him on a re-structured contract that will pay him $20 million in guaranteed money.
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Olympic athletes generally don’t make that kind of dough.
Of course it wasn’t all about the money for Peterson. It was also about respect.
Peterson felt highly disrespected last year when he was shut down by the NFL in the wake of child abuse charges and the Vikings didn’t fight hard enough on his behalf.
$20 million in guaranteed money goes a long way toward making a man feel respected.
Last Monday night, the satisfied (and well-paid) Peterson made his triumphant return to the NFL by running for 31 yards on 10 carries.
Peterson’s performance was not what he or anyone else expected but of course that was Norv Turner’s fault for trying to make him run out of the shotgun.
If the Vikings don’t start using Peterson “correctly,” he may once again contemplate retiring in order to pursue his Olympic dreams.
Peterson knows there’s no camel riding event in the Olympics, right?
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