Spielman: Vikings will ‘keep the door open’ for Peterson

INDIANAPOLIS — To no one’s surprise, the Minnesota Vikings opted not to pick up the option on the contract of running back Adrian Peterson. That means one of the all-time great players in NFL history has a chance of wearing … Continued

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SiriusXM Editor
March 1, 2017

AAAA Adrian PetersonINDIANAPOLIS — To no one’s surprise, the Minnesota Vikings opted not to pick up the option on the contract of running back Adrian Peterson.

That means one of the all-time great players in NFL history has a chance of wearing a different uniform for the first time in his pro career.

‘I had very productive discussions with his agent’

Does it necessarily mean he has no chance of playing for the Vikings again? General Manager Rick Spielman wasn’t ready to go that far while talking with Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“We’re going to keep the door open, just like we do with all our players,” Spielman said. “By not exercising the option, I think everybody knew that that was coming. I had very productive discussions with his agent and I spoke with Adrian as well and we’re always going to keep the door open on that. But you don’t know where the market’s going. You don’t know who’s going to be available. One of the areas we’re going to have to address in free agency, I don’t know, from a financial standpoint, what we can and can’t afford.

‘You have to be very flexible in your planning’

“So as you go into this, you have a specific plan in place on what you’d like to execute. But just like on game day, it’s never just like you drew it up on cards during the week in practice. You have to be very flexible in your planning. You come in with expectations and you want to sign one of your players back that is a free agent. Well, you have X-amount of dollars that you think the value is, and then all of a sudden there’s a whole new market out there with all the cap space.

“And, all of a sudden, what you thought was a deal that was reasonable for both sides and that price goes up, then all of a sudden that establishes a whole new market and then you have to reality on whether you want to get in the game at that market or back out.”


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