The Minnesota Vikings will be asking for a first round pick and a starting cornerback for Adrian Peterson. That means they’re willing to part ways with him, but putting a price tag on him that’s going to be impossible to match.
Peterson carries a $15.4 million cap hit with him next season, $15 million in 2016 and $17 million in 2017. However, no dead money if he’s released after the 2015 season. So, is it worth taking a gamble on a running back who is 30 and has just missed an entire season of football completely? It’s hard to figure any team is going to go ahead and agree to this deal.
So will the Vikings lower their demands? Right now Peterson and his agent are playing hardball. The rift between the player and the franchise seems to be growing, which means that the closer we get to the various deadlines of minicamps and training camps, it’ll be more interesting to see if Peterson shows up or not, so far not showing any indication of wanting to come back to the Vikings.
A first round pick for a running back, even a supposedly great one as Peterson, sounds like a lot in today’s NFL. But also a starting cornerback? Something teams hold in much higher value these days than yards on the ground? It takes a dysfunctional and risk taking general manager to go for that offer and bring in Peterson, who probably, according to everything we see from running backs over the years, doesn’t have too many years of great production in him, and maybe no more at all.
The Vikings can release him and not be too financially damaged from it, but it’s either they actually believe that Peterson will come around and are calling him on his bluff, or simply do this as some sort of battle of pride with Peterson, going beyond the reason of what’s good or bad for the team and player, which might not be the same thing.