Earlier this week, the Vikings signed running back Adrian Peterson to a restructured contract, which pays him a little less money over the next three years, guarantees a large chunk of it, and requires to make early decisions in 2016 and 2017 regarding whether they’ll keep him around.
So why did the Vikings do the deal?
“We just thought it was beneficial for both sides that we got this done,” coach Mike Zimmer told Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He’s proved that he’s an integral part of this organization and in the state of Minnesota. He also went through some hard times, as did we. It was a good gesture on both sides to get it done.”
While the Vikings got nothing tangible from the deal, other than a total contractual value that shrinks by $750,000 over the next three years, they received an important intangible -- complete and total buy in from Peterson for 2015 and beyond. Next year, there won’t be weeks and months of uncertainty regarding whether Peterson wants out, relieving the team of the kind of nagging toothache that lingered until Peterson finally showed up for offseason workouts in June.
So Peterson is back, and the Vikings went 6-9 in 15 games without him last year. Which has increased expectations for a playoff berth this season. Which doesn’t faze Zimmer.
“We haven’t even made it to training camp yet, so I’m not going to talk much about the playoffs, that’s for sure,” Zimmer said. “We’ve got so much more work to do before we even start thinking about those things. We haven’t played a preseason game. We don’t know who’s going to be healthy, who’s not going to be healthy. We don’t even know what the team is going to look like yet. I don’t know. I’m not going to be all hung up on those things. Obviously we hope we have a great year. It’s good for the fans to get excited. All this stuff, how we play as a team on Sundays, that’s what it will come down to.”
He’s right. While predictions fill the void before the real games start, all that matters is what happens from Week One to Week 17. Are the Vikings better positioned this year than last year? Yes. Can that change quickly? Absolutely.
But at least Vikings fans enter the season on a high note, possibly the highest note since the arrival of Brett Favre in 2009.