Washington head coach Ron Rivera woke up on Friday morning with Adrian Peterson on his mind.
Rivera told reporters on a videoconference that his first thoughts of the day were about how he would tell Peterson that he was being released. Rivera said it was “difficult” to deliver that news to a player who seemed to be on track for a starting job this season.
As Rivera explained, though, the team had grown increasingly excited about what Antonio Gibson, Bryce Love, J.D. McKissic and Peyton Barber brought to the table during training camp.
“It’s not about what he didn’t do,” Rivera said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “It’s about what these other guys were doing for us and allows us to go in the direction we feel good about. The guy’s got football left in him.”
Peterson has reportedly heard from teams who want to see if that’s the case and seems likely to land somewhere so he can continue his NFL career for a 14th season.