At this Point What Does Adrian Peterson Have to Lose?
Before we even get started with this there's one question I have. How do you feel about Adrian Peterson? I ask that question honestly because however you feel about him will influence how you feel about his comments. If you lost all respect for him last year then what he did yesterday only added to your dislike of him. If you still rooted for him after the drama then this either made you question the tweets or made you like the fact that he stood by his position. Either way, this rant he went on isn't as simple as you might think.
Now, did his rant seem like the manifesto of a crazy person? Yes. Any time you go on a multiple tweet rant about something like money and being underpaid as a professional athlete people aren't going to side with you. Athletes aren't very sympathetic figures in that way.
Secondly, is Peterson wrong about what he said? No. You see dozens of NFL players every year being released or their contracts being re-negotiated in order to help out the salary cap. Ask anybody in the New England Patriots organization about that.
Finally, should he have said it at this time…? Yes.
Now you're confused right? You thought he should keep his mouth shut and stay low until the season starts. I mean, the man is being paid $12 million this year and he should honor your contract, right? There's one thing you forgot when it comes to Peterson. He doesn't care about good or bad PR… nor should he.
Right now Adrian Peterson is branded as a child beater, right? Whatever rushing records he set in previous years and whatever spectacular plays he had are now secondary to the TMZ report last year. That perception of him will never change. It doesn't matter how many yards he runs for or how many touchdowns he scores.
Michael Vick used to be the most entertaining player in the NFL. There was a commercial of the Michael Vick Experience and his jersey was a top seller. Then the dog fighting conviction came and he was a pariah that was nearly universally hated.
Since his reinstatement into the NFL Vick has been a model citizen and there are still groups of people who will never not see him as the guy at the center of dog fighting. I'm not saying with either Peterson or Vick its right or wrong, I'm just giving examples.
When I say Ndamukong Suh you think of a dirty player. Even if I go to another sport and say the name of Yasiel Puig you think of a guy who's out of control and not a team guy. Maybe Kobe Bryant has been able to navigate around what happened in Eagle, Colorado but that took two championships, an MVP of the regular season and an Olympic gold medal. Peterson can't do all of those things so he's stuck in the space we've carved out for him.
So, if he's already type casted as a bad guy that wants out of Minnesota then why not do whatever you can to get out of there. Before the draft word got out that he didn't like it there and wanted to be traded, preferably to the Cowboys. That failed and he's still with the team.
Then, OTA's began and he decided not to report for business reasons. Now, he's just going for bigger and bigger air. Now he's basically making things as uncomfortable as he can for the organization until he has enough leverage.
If it works and he gets to a new team and is extremely motivated to silence his critics. If it doesn't work then he'll get $12 million and play for the Vikings. If they tell him he has to take a pay-cut then he's proven right by the tweets. Either way he wins. The only way he loses all around on this is if he goes to another team and is terrible. The one thing sports fans hate more than arrogance is arrogance without success.
We may not forgive the off the field problems but we'll let the contract disputes go if you're good. People understand that it's a business as long as you produce when you get the money. Darrell Revis has played for three different teams over the last three years and has been to the pro bowl six of the last seven years as well as winning a Super Bowl. Peterson may be older (30 years old) but he can still produce and as long as he does, we'll forgive what he's doing right now. We won't forgive last year so easily but we can let business decisions go.
Is Peterson's rant the best PR look? No, but at this point, what does he have to lose?
