We’re not entirely too sure what the plan is in the Adrian Peterson camp right now. After the Minnesota Vikings decided against picking up Peterson’s contract option for the 2017 season, reports came out immediately indicating that the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders were interested.
Then, as news continued to leak, the Cowboys themselves apparently indicated they were not interested in the future Hall of Fame running back. This seems to be a ploy by Peterson’s camp to set up some sort of a bidding war once free agency starts on Thursday.
All that was taken to a whole new level on Tuesday when reports surfaced that the Seattle Seahawks were among the teams Peterson might be most interested in joining. Makes sense, right? After all, Seattle struggled on the ground this past season after Marshawn Lynch retired.
Not so fast.
Peterson’s father, Nelson, apparently decided it made sense to take to the media as well. Only this time, someone from the running back’s camp (his father) threw a whole bunch of shade Seattle’s way.
Adrian Peterson dad on Raiders "They haven't been trying to get O-linemen from the bottom of the barrel & trying to make them into something
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) March 8, 2017
Drama on top of drama.
What exactly are we missing here? Why would Peterson’s father leak information about his son’s interest in Seattle only to come back a short while later to criticize the team’s handling of its offensive line?
“What we personally like is (the Raiders’) offensive line,” said Nelson Peterson, via the Pioneer Press. “The offensive line, they haven’t been playing around. They haven’t been trying to get offensive linemen from the bottom of the barrel and trying to make them into something.”
This could be an indication that Peterson is interested in the Seahawks should they improve their offensive line. It’s not a secret that this is an area of the team that struggled big time last season. In fact, we’re projecting Seattle to add multiple new starters during the offseason.
On the other hand, Oakland boasts one of the top-two offensive lines in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. It has invested a great deal on this unit, which has helped Derek Carr morph into one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
As it is, Peterson’s camp seems to be attempting to send signals to teams through the media. What exactly those signals are remains anyone’s guess. What we do know is that the market for his services likely won’t be as robust as the future Hall of Fame running back and his camp would like.