Will Adrian Peterson still be a Minnesota Viking when the team gets to work on the 2017 season? They don’t know yet.
That’s the word from Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman, who told reporters today that the team still needs to make its decision.
Unless Peterson is willing to take a big pay cut, it’s hard to imagine that decision will be anything other than cutting Peterson. Peterson is 31 years old, coming off a knee injury and due $18 million in 2017. It would be crazy for the Vikings to pay a declining running back that kind of money.
Whether Peterson is willing to take a big pay cut remains to be seen, but Spielman did say he views Peterson as someone who will always be a Viking. That may be true, in the same sense that Emmitt Smith will always be a Cowboy. But Smith finished his career in Arizona, and Peterson may have to finish his career elsewhere as well.