Fresh off the heels of the Minnesota Vikings denying reports that Adrian Peterson requested a trade with the Vikings to the Dallas Cowboys comes a report that Adrian Peterson’s agent, Ben Dogra, and Vikings Vice President of Player Personnel, Rob Brzezinski, had to be physically separated during an “altercation” by Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik.
Dogra indicated to the Vikings that Peterson would never play for the Vikings again, which was later confirmed to La Canfora by a separate source.
This comes after Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole broke the news that the Vikings knew that Adrian Peterson wanted to play in Dallas (initially reported by others as a trade request) and a stretch of drama highlighted first by open overtures from the front office and coaching staff to bring him back, followed by a report out of ESPN that Adrian Peterson felt uneasy about returning.
Dogra indicated to Brzezinski, per the report, that Peterson lost faith with the Vikings because of how the Vikings handled the situation both before and after he was put on the exempt list, actions which must almost certainly include Vikings legal counsel Kevin Warren working against the running back and with the NFL to keep him off the field—a person who was recently promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the organization.
Those actions may also include the perception of how events played out as well as limited pushback from the organization to combat the dominant narrative establishing itself in Minnesota, which include governor Mark Dayton calling Adrian Peterson’s actions “a public embarrassment”.
Seemingly bowing to sponsors in order to deactivate Adrian Peterson doesn’t help, even if it was the correct or moral action on the part of the Minnesota Vikings—a player as invested and seemingly integral to the organization may have expected better treatment, or perhaps have an expectation of being roped into the discussion.
The Vikings may be forced to trade Peterson, and the potential suitors could be limited as a result of a talented running back class in the draft and large cap hit. Still, a lot of organizations do have the cap room to entertain Peterson’s contract, and even more will be interested if he indicates a willingness to restructure.
Trade value can range from a first-round pick and change to a mid-round pick to alleviate the cap room, though the smart money could be on a second-round pick and some later compensation to be determined.
The teams with the most cap space are the Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per OverTheCap.com. The Browns and Bengals do not likely need a running back, and the Titans and Buccaneers recently drafted running backs in the early rounds (Bishop Sankey and Charles Sims). The Raiders may be interested in the running back they have aside from Maurice Jones-Drew or Darren McFadden in Latavius Murray and the Jets consider Chris Ivory to be a feature back.
Adrian Peterson could reunite with Leslie Frazier in Tampa Bay (where he is the defensive coordinator), Bill Musgrave in Oakland or play with good friend Percy Harvin in New York. He could find himself starting ahead of Toby Gerhart again in Jacksonville. The Colts are not too far away from making the next step and need a running back.
Other teams that may make space for Peterson include known-to-be-enamored Dallas Cowboys or the Seattle Seahawks in the case where Marshawn Lynch retires. The Arizona Cardinals are very traditional in terms of what they want in a running back, and Adrian Peterson fits the bill for the surprising NFC West contender, and if the Denver Broncos decide to stretch it for one last run, could bring Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson together.
The Vikings are unlikely to cut Adrian Peterson, but would save $13 million in cap space by doing so, and are on schedule to pay him $44 million in salary over the next three years (with $2 million in prorated signing bonus hitting this year and $750,000 in workout bonuses).