Griffen: Adrian Peterson ‘should have finished his career’ with Vikings
By Adam Patrick
When recently speaking with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive end talked about his former teammate now playing elsewhere.
For the past 10 years, Adrian Peterson has stepped on an NFL field as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. But this most recent offseason, the Vikings felt it was better to part ways with their aging running back and Peterson went on to sign with the New Orleans Saints.
As the Vikings took to training camp in Mankato, Minnesota this year, the absence of their former running back was quite noticeable to some of his old teammates. Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen recently spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King about Peterson not being at camp this year.
"“It is totally weird to not see Adrian Peterson here. It feels like he should have finished his career here, but it’s a business.”"
Griffen is very familiar with how much of a business playing in the NFL is considering he just signed a very nice extension with Minnesota worth $58 million.
Peterson will go down as one the Vikings’ all-time greats, but he is just heading towards the end of his career and he did not want to take a pay cut to stay in Minnesota. So the Vikings made the smart move and did not pick up his contract option for 2017.
So like many talented running backs before him (LaDainian Tomlinson, Marcus Allen, Emmitt Smith, and Frank Gore to name a few), Peterson will spend the last two or three years of his time in the league wearing a uniform most are not accustomed to seeing him in.
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But just as Griffen told King, it truly is going to be “totally wierd” seeing Peterson take the field at Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium as an opponent when the Saints come to town for their Week 1 showdown with the Vikings. That weirdness for Griffen and the rest of his current Minnesota teammates should go away pretty quickly though once they get the chance to pound Peterson into the ground.