When a photo surfaced earlier this week of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and free agent running back Adrian Peterson working out, it intrigued a lot of people around the NFL.
We can count Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter among the names that were intrigued.
“I’ve seen Adrian Peterson many times playing and that guy is one of the best running backs to ever play,” Koetter said earlier in the week, via the Tampa Bay Times. “I’m anxious to talk to Jameis and ask him how his workouts went.”
Unfortunately for fans in Tampa Bay, in no way does this mean that the Buccaneers are interested in the 32-year-old Peterson. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, it’s almost a certainty the team will not sign Peterson.
“You never say never when it comes to personnel matters, but it’s hard to be more definitive than to say Peterson is defintely NOT in the Bucs plans,” Stroud reported.
Current Bucs starter Doug Martin will be forced to sit the first three games of the 2017 season after violating the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy. Meanwhile, the team has been linked to multiple running back prospects in the first round of this month’s draft.
Though, the lack of real interest in Peterson should not be surprising. He’s taken a grand total of one visit three weeks into free agency. Even then, the Seattle Seahawks opted for Eddie Lacy over the future Hall of Famer.
Players from different teams work out during the offseason. It’s common. It’s also likely that Peterson and Winston hanging out was simply nothing more than that.