Peterson Banged Up, But Teammate Says It's Not Serious
MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was banged up a bit in a practice Tuesday, but he's expected to be fine.
Peterson tangled up with other players during an inside running drill at training camp, falling to the ground while appearing to hurt his leg. Peterson limped to the sideline, tested the leg and eventually left the field with head trainer Eric Sugarman.
The Vikings didn't provide an update on Peterson's condition, but running back Jerick McKinnon told reporters after the workout at Minnesota State University that the injury wasn't believed to be serious.
"Everybody knows Adrian's got a cape on. He'll be back out here tomorrow. I don't think anybody's worried about him," McKinnon said.
Linebacker Anthony Barr returned to practice after missing the last week because of inflammation in his left knee.
Coach Mike Zimmer said that Barr, whose rookie season was cut short by four games because of a knee injury, would have participated in the morning walk-through that was cancelled so coaches could focus more on reviewing game film from Sunday's Hall of Fame exhibition game against Pittsburgh.
"We want to get him ready to go to at San Francisco," Zimmer said, referring to the Sept. 14 regular season opener. "We'll continue to get him reps. He'll be OK."
Barr hadn't practiced in eight days because of the knee, which he had surgically repaired in the offseason. He did not make the trip to Canton, Ohio, to play the Steelers. Barr said at the start of training camp that his knee wasn't yet 100 percent healthy.
After practice, rookie cornerback Trae Waynes spent some extra time on the field with defensive backs coach Jerry Gray.
Waynes played in nearly all of Sunday's game, a 14-3 victory by the Vikings, drawing three penalties: two for holding and one for pass interference. He had two tackles and one assist. After one of the holding penalties, Waynes bounced back on the next play by stopping a short pass to a running back behind the line of scrimmage.
"He's a good, competitive kid," Zimmer said. "I liked what I saw in a lot of things. Obviously the penalties weren't good, but he got into a couple of situations where he started reverting back to some of the college things. I am not worried about it at all."
Waynes, the 11th overall pick in the draft, played both on the outside and in the slot. The 6-foot, 190-pound cornerback was more effective at the line of scrimmage in press coverage and had more trouble when he was in open space playing off the receivers.
"That's what I've known for four years," Waynes said. "It's a different league, different level. I had to learn firsthand."
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