Adrian Peterson has been one of the top running backs in the NFL for a decade and is still an active player at age 34. But despite having earned nearly $100 million in his career to date, the former MVP is allegedly in significant financial trouble, according to a new report.
According to The Athletic, Peterson is being sued in multiple states after he defaulted on loans, and he also owes money to a company from whom he took out a loan in order to pay off other debts. A follow-up story on ESPN went into greater detail, and stated that Peterson is “deep in debt,” after he “trusted the wrong people.”
“The truth behind Adrian Peterson’s current financial situation is more than is being reported at this time,” the running back’s lawyer, Chase Carlson, said in the ESPN report. “This is yet another situation of an athlete trusting the wrong people and being taken advantage of by those he trusted.”
The Athletic story says that Peterson is being sued by a lender in Pennsylvania for defaulting on a $5.2 million loan, while Peterson has been ordered to pay $2.4 million to a creditor in Maryland. In another case, in Minnesota, he was ordered to pay $600,000. ESPN says that Peterson had taken out a $5.2 million loan in 2016 in order to pay off his other loans.
A deposition in the case had been scheduled for this week but was later canceled, due to what Peterson’s representatives claimed was a conflict of interest involving the counterparty’s attorneys, who had previously represented the running back.
Peterson, by a significant margin, has made the most money of any running back in NFL history. He played for the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Arizona Cardinals and is now with the Washington Redskins. He rushed for 1,042 yards last season.
My piece on the latest loan default lawsuit against Adrian Peterson, this one for allegedly not paying back a $5.2 mil debt https://t.co/6dq9hef247
— Daniel Kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) July 23, 2019
Peterson, while playing for the Vikings, was arrested and indicted in Texas in 2014 on charges that he had physically abused his then-4-year-old son. The running back was placed on the “commissioner’s exempt” list for the remainder of that season, although he pleaded no contest to the criminal charges. He returned to the Vikings the following season.
The running back is scheduled to make around $2.5 million this season with Washington.
Per Pro Football Reference , Peterson has rushed for 13,0318 yards and scored 106 touchdowns in his career. His season last year with Washington marked the first time he had rushed for 1,000 yards since he played for the Vikings in 2015.