Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings are tired of hearing how running back Adrian Peterson is unhappy with his current situation with the organization and wants to play for a different team in 2015. The Vikings also are unsatisfied with Peterson deliberately skipping optional organized team activities, which he showed up to last year, and threatening a possible retirement as a way to show his unhappiness with the team.
Minnesota has no desire to trade Peterson, and in all honesty, they should not allow a player to dictate what the organization does. He can whine all he wants about how the Vikings failed to properly back him up during his child abuse charges in 2014. The reality is the team was put in an incredibly difficult position to do so, which is why they made the correct decision to suspend him indefinitely and allow the NFL to take care of the legal repercussions. There is no reason why they should have stood behind him on such charges, and Peterson needs to get over it.
The Vikings have decided if Peterson wants to continue to skip OTAs and leak tidbits of his desire to be traded, they have no choice but to give him an ultimatum for the 2015 NFL season.
“He’s really got two choices. He can either play for us or he cannot play,” head coach Mike Zimmer said, according to CBS Sports. “He’s not going to play for anybody else and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
No matter how it is received, Minnesota is making the right move. This becomes even more clear when considering there is a belief that Peterson would show up to the team facilities if the Vikings were to guarantee the $45 million that he is still under contract for over the next three years. If that is true, it proves that once again he is making demands when he has no ground to stand on.
Peterson should be thankful a NFL team is willing to give him a spot on their roster, especially after he put the Vikings in a difficult bind last year. It would be quite shocking if he did not come to his senses and decided to avoid Minnesota’s mandatory minicamp in mid-June.
Michael Terrill is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelTerrill, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
