On Saturday, the Vikings signed running back Adrian Peterson to a contract that will keep Peterson in Minnesota for the rest of his career -- unless of course the Vikings decide at some point in the out years to trade him or to cut him.
And Peterson told Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com that the deal proved that owner Zygi Wilf is a man of his word.
“I ran into [Wilf] in the locker room,” Peterson said regarding a meeting with the owner from November 2010. “We were kind of going back and forth and he said, ‘Adrian, I just want you to know -- and he told Chad [Greenway] the same thing because he was right there -- he said, ‘I want to make sure you guys are going to remain Vikings for your careers.’
“He stayed true to that [Saturday]. He stayed true to his word.”
Peterson’s long-term deal came only five days after Greenway’s.
Moving forward, Peterson has the financial security that comes from a huge pile of guaranteed money. “You sit back and go, ‘Hey, I’ve got 36 million guaranteed. That’s not going anywhere.’ I’m sure you’d be pretty comfortable, too,” Peterson said.
“Comfortable, but not relaxed, because it’s not going to take away from how I play this game, my passion about this game. I’m in this position because of how I play this game. But anytime you’re making a business decision, you’ve got to factor all the things in -- even some of the things you don’t want to think about.”
Like the kind of injury that can happen to a guy who runs like a bull in a bowling alley. He has avoided serious injury through four NFL seasons, and now the injury risk has been shifted completely to the Vikings.