Vikings Waiting For NFL To Rule On Adrian Peterson
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – We continue to await word about when and if Adrian Peterson will return to the field this season for the Vikings.
Peterson's legal case was resolved last week, but he remains under the commissioner's exempt list while the NFL decides whether to discipline him or reinstate him.
"We support him," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. "But the whole thing is out of our hands."
Zimmer said the team has gotten no timeline from the NFL about when it will make a decision about Peterson.
"We just prepare like he's not going to be here, until we hear differently," he said.
But, arguably, the bigger decision rests with the Vikings. If the NFL reinstates Peterson before the end of the season, the Vikings have three choices: play him, trade him, or cut him. It's a decision they certainly won't make lightly after the public backlash from fans, media, politicians and sponsors when they tried to play him earlier this year.
The Vikings say they're waiting for the NFL to make a decision on Peterson's reinstatement. If the team has decided what to do with Peterson if and when he is reinstated, it isn't saying.
"I'm not going to deal with the hypotheticals of what the NFL says or the league says, regarding the regulations," Zimmer said. "When those decisions are made, then we can make decisions. Until then, really, our hands are tied. There's really nothing we can do about it other than what we've said all along: We love the kid. He's done everything I've asked him to do. We support him, and we want him to get through this, for him. And then we'll worry about all the other things we have to deal with at that point in time."
