Getty Images
While I may give the Minnesota Vikings points for effort, I have to take them away for their lack of foresight. It’s been clear all along what needed to happen, and now with Adrian Peterson holding himself out of OTAs, it’s never been clearer: The Vikings need to trade Peterson as soon as they can.
I know the team doesn’t have any pressing financial reason, or need for draft picks, to trade Peterson. And I know it was easy for them dig their heels in and refuse to cave in. But it’s clear now that whatever leverage they thought they had with Peterson doesn’t matter much anymore. I suppose the Vikings figured Peterson would shut up and play to earn his eight-figure salary in 2015 and that would be enough. But if Peterson is willing to forgo $250,000 in easily attainable cash in order to get out of town, you have to assume he’s willing to go farther.
So now the Vikings have to cut ties as soon as possible. Peterson is going to be a front-and-center distraction that will cast a shadow over the entire team. He’s not some random player who might make for local news; Peterson is one of the best players in the league who already had national attention for his legal troubles. The now ongoing Peterson saga is going to be an automatic headline as long as he’s still wearing purple, which is the last thing a team like the Vikings needs. They’ve got a young quarterback and an emerging defense to develop. There’s enough on their plates.
Where the team is lucky is in the fact that they can ride this staring contest out. The Vikings have already proven they’d be willing to take on Peterson’s enormous $15 million cap hit this year, and they’ve already built the team around his contract. They’re equipped to handle this standoff with Peterson, and even though the distraction will be there, their feet aren’t as close to the fire as they could have been. That means if Peterson buckles first, he might agree to re-negotiate his contract in order to facilitate a trade somewhere else. The Vikings would then get to move on and get some value back for him, which is the best-case scenario.
The horrible downside to this is the other side of the coin, that the team might not be able to trade Peterson and may have to release him. Getting nothing back for Peterson would certainly sting, but cutting their losses like that would be a necessary evil in this scenario. This is a team on the cusp of contending and that needs to be where their focus is.
With this holdout, Peterson and the Vikings are now locked into this tug of war battle. Really, I think the Vikings are built to win it, but it’s going to come at a price. It’s also going to come down to how long they feel like dealing with this headache. They’d be smart to ease up on their demands and figure out a trade quickly. It’d be better for all parties involved.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
