3. Rick Spielman and Adrian Peterson have a hug and talk about it
The Adrian Peterson mess dominated the offseason news, reaching several crescendos of weirdness along the way. No single image was more bizarre than the sight of Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer arriving at Peterson’s house in Texas to have a sit-down and Spielman hugging it out with Peterson.
Looking back on it now, it was probably dumb that we ever worried about Peterson not coming back. So much stuff was flung around in the media that it was just impossible to know what was actually going on. It was all just a big crazy fog. Ultimately, the Vikings were the only team willing to give Peterson the kind of money he sought. That was the only important factor in the end. All the stuff about Peterson being mad at the organization, wanting to go to Dallas, not feeling comfortable in Minnesota, all ploys to leverage the Vikings into giving up more guaranteed money.
In retrospect, we never should have doubted that the Vikings would cave. The Vikings needed Peterson. And did not trust Teddy Bridgewater. And I’m still not sure they trust Bridgewater.