Even though a trade for running back Adrian Peterson didn’t happen during the NFL Draft 2015 , many believe it’s still possible. Even though the Dallas Cowboys have never officially said anything about wanting Peterson, AP is still a top back and teams are definitely interested. Now, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has said that they’d be willing to trade a 2016 first-round draft pick so let the rumors fly.
“I’d be reluctant to, but certainly if the right situation came along that could improve us now, with where we are with (35-year-old quarterback) Tony Romo, his career and where we are with what we’ve put together, it’s a good time to go for it.”
As NFL.com pointed out when Jones spoke on KRLD-FM on Friday, Jones was speaking very candidly. He said that they’d be willing to trade that pick away to acquire a game-changing running back or blue-chip defensive talent.
A game-changing running back, eh? Jones did also speak on the recent signing of undrafted rookie free agent offensive lineman La’el Collins . He will surely shore up their offensive line and help the team in pass protection and the running game.
The addition of Collins virtually gave the Cowboys three first-round players while only paying one of them first-round money. The others were Byron Jones and Randy Gregory.
Jones’ comments have started a feeding frenzy of rumors as far as Adrian Peterson is concerned, and there is no way of ever knowing if the Minnesota Vikings will even put him up on the block.
Later in the same day, KRLD-FM posed a similar question to Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones. As the Cowboys Blog pointed out, this Jones was a bit more skeptical in his comments and didn’t quite jump out as fast as Jerry Jones did.
“I don’t really see that, Chris. At the end of the day, we’ll look. I don’t ever want to rule anything out. We really want to value our picks. I know we traded a future pick this year, but we thought we were getting a player that was better than the round we were giving up next year. So why not have the current value of that player with us? So anyway it’s something that we really don’t want to go out there and not really value our draft picks and it would have to be something very unique to make us want to give up a draft pick. We’re always open to a player for another player, that’s more in our wheelhouse, but we’ll continue to look at what our options are.”
So, will the Cowboys part with a first-round draft pick in 2016 for a chance at Adrian Peterson , or not? With Jerry Jones putting that out there, the ball appears to be in the court of the Vikings and if they ever want to take a shot at dealing their star running back, now would be the time.
For now, the rumors will persist and continue on as to the Dallas Cowboys trying to trade for running back Adrian Peterson. If those talks are going to stop, he’ll either have to be traded or step out onto the field in 2015 in Viking purple and gold.
[Image via Vibe]