Dallas Cowboys Sign Darren McFadden To Boost Backfield, But Is Adrian Peterson Also On The Way?
The Dallas Cowboys were given a big blow when their star running back, Demarco Murray, decided to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. It wasn’t some short deal either, as Murray signed a five-year deal worth $42 million with Philly, ensuring that he would see his former team a lot in the coming years. The Dallas Cowboys are known for bouncing back by picking up the best they can for the money they are allowed to use. Sort of.
The Cowboys managed to sign a running back with some ties to Jerry Jones himself. ESPN reports that former Arkansas star back Darren McFadden signed a two-year deal for Dallas. Jerry Jones reportedly wanted to get McFadden in 2008 when he came out of college, but he instead fell to the Oakland Raiders, where he had an okay career but nothing to write home about.
Now Jerry has his fellow Razorback in Dallas. This allows for Jerry to have his running back for the next few years and potentially grab someone in the draft to help as well. However, there is still some thought that Adrian Peterson could make his way to Dallas to be their featured running back.
Peterson grew up in Texas as a Dallas Cowboys fan, but it seems that ever since college began, he has left his native state behind. Peterson had offers to go several places out of high school and chose to be an Oklahoma Sooner instead of staying in Texas. While the NFL Draft was out of his control, he ended up becoming a Minnesota Viking through it and has been there since he came into the NFL.
Many believe that Peterson still has a lot of elite years ahead of him, but the Minnesota Vikings do not want to let him go, especially when he has value. Despite the child abuse scandal, Peterson will be ready to return to the NFL next season, as his penalty with the NFL expires next month. If the Vikings wanted to trade Peterson to the Dallas Cowboys, they easily could. However, Dallas would have to give up a good bit for him. It has seemed in the past that Minnesota was willing to let him go, but only via trade.
It is doubtful the Vikings would simply release Adrian Peterson knowing they could get extreme value for him in a trade. However, there is still the issue of financial problems when it comes to Peterson, which makes a trade very tricky.
Peterson is still owed $44.25 million over the next three seasons, including a base salary in 2015 of $12.75 million. So in a trade, Dallas would be sacked with that debt. It would hurt them in free agency for a while. Oh, and do not think he’ll give them a home state discount if released from Minnesota either. Peterson knows he is as good as or better than people like Marshawn Lynch and Lesean McCoy, who are making a good bit.
If the Dallas Cowboys refused to budge past $6 million per year with Demarco Murray, a younger back with less mileage than Peterson, would they seriously consider a bigger deal for Adrian even knowing his skill set? Peterson is nearing 30 and has a lot of miles on his tires as well as an ACL injury in his past. Sure, he is elite. However, Dallas would have to be convinced they’d win a Super Bowl with him in order for them to give up the kind of dough he’s estimated to make or would make on the open market.
[IMG Credits: yourdailycowboysfootballfix.com, mashuplinks.info]
