Dallas Cowboys Rumors: A Reinstated Adrian Peterson Could Still Be Trade Target For Cowboys And One Other Team
On Tuesday afternoon, running back Adrian Peterson met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to speak on his legal issues. The face-to-face meeting is a step toward being reinstated by the NFL, but when that happens, will he be a member of the Minnesota Vikings? Well, he will upon reinstatement, but the Dallas Cowboys and other teams could be in his future.
Peterson must now wait until April 15 to see if Goodell will reinstate him from the commissioner’s exempt list, per USA Today. If he is, the 30-year-old running back will go on to play in the 2015 NFL season, but where?
Peterson, through his agent, Ben Dogra, has said that he wants out of Minnesota and away from the Vikings. The Vikings have said they have no plans to release Peterson from his contract and that he is a member of the team.
Still, they have not said they won’t trade him, and that’s where the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, and others have come into the picture.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated said that both the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals appear to be the teams with the best chance of landing him in a trade with Minnesota. They’re in need of a running back, and Peterson would be a great one to bring in.
While Peterson apparently loves the idea of going to play for either of those teams, he does have a hefty contract that they would need to pick up. King states that neither team will make a rash move, as there are some negatives too.
“I can tell you that neither of those teams, Dallas or Arizona, is going to do something stupid for Peterson. They don’t have to. This draft is too good at running back, and the two teams, as of the close of business Tuesday, are pretty snug up against the cap, considering they still have rookies to sign. Dallas has about $12.8 million available, and Arizona $9.1 million.
Peterson has three years left on his contract, at $12.75 million, $14.75 million and $16.75 million — plus $750,000 in offseason workout bonuses. He turned 30 last month. You can say his legs are fresh and his body well-rested because he sat out almost all of last season while on paid leave by the NFL. That’s fair. But he’s also an ACL surgery veteran who carried the ball 627 times in the two seasons after his knee surgery.”
Arizona has the 24th pick in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft and the 55th in the second. Dallas has the 27th pick in the first round and the 60th in the second. The draft has a lot of running back talent this year, but those players don’t have the experience that Peterson has.
King believes that the Dallas Cowboys trading for Adrian Peterson under these conditions “would be a 2005 Jerry Jones move.” Maybe the rumors won’t come true and the Cowboys won’t do anything rash, but the gossip just won’t go away, and Peterson’s impending reinstatement makes talk stronger.
[Image via Getty]
