The Minnesota Vikings are rumored to be trying hard to trade Adrian Peterson, with sources saying the team wants to get rid of him “any way they can.”
The Vikings have had a strained relationship with Peterson since his arrest for child abuse last year, and Peterson has said openly that he feels abandoned by the team .
“There were people (in the organization) that I trusted, who knew exactly what was said, that weren’t heard from,” Peterson said on ESPN. “It’s hard to say (what my future will be).”
The Minnesota Vikings had actually said publicly that they wanted to keep Adrian Peterson, but now sources say the team is trying hard to find a trade partner.
As Vikings Territory pointed out, the move is far from surprising.
“The tension between Adrian Peterson and the Vikings have been rising, ever since Kevin Warren, former legal counsel for the Vikings, was promoted to become the Chief Operations Officer for the team even though it had been revealed that he actively worked to keep Peterson off the field last year ,” wrote Araf Hasan. “After Adrian Peterson’s agent, Ben Dogra, and Vice President of Football Operations, Rob Brzezinski, had to be separated at the NFL combine , it was perhaps made clear that the relationship was sour.”
But the Minnesota Vikings are keeping their cards close to the vest. The team’s general manager Rick Spielman told ESPN that they have had “open dialogue” with Peterson, but didn’t specify exactly what that meant.
Spielman did say the Vikings hope to have Peterson back on the team next season, although many believe that is just empty talk.
“We are able to have communication now with Adrian,” Spielman said. “We’ll keep all those communications internal. I think it’s been very clearly stated we want Adrian Peterson back. He’s a unique talent, and he’s under contract with us.”
The talks will be able to continue now, after a federal judge ordered the NFL to talk Peterson off suspension, which allowed him to talk to the Vikings again.
There are rumored to be many teams contacting the Minnesota Vikings with interest in Adrian Peterson, though the Dallas Cowboys may be a favorite. The Cowboys will likely be losing running back DeMarco Murray to free agency, and there have been some previous rumblings that Dallas owner Jerry Jones has reached out to Peterson about coming back home to Texas.
[Image via Getty]