Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will reportedly be skipping the first week of Vikings OTAs as he seeks a trade to another NFL destination.
It's not great news for Vikings fans, but it seems a fairly benign decision by an All World talent who has been known to skip voluntary offseason work before.
Behind the scenes though, things may be much worse.
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported late Sunday that Peterson would be skipping OTAs in the hopes of furthering the message that he no longer wishes to remain a member of the NFL's Minnesota franchise. Robinson appeared on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast Tuesday and delved further into the issues currently facing Peterson and the Vikings - issues which have, per Robinson, created a "disturbing," untenable situation for the perennial Pro Bowler.
"I've spoken to a long-time confidant of Adrian Peterson, someone who has been present for a lot of the talks, a lot of the deliberations that Adrian Peterson has gone through with his family about the situation and this person is absolutely adamant that this is personal. It's not about money. He wants out. He really wants a fresh start, I think his family really wants a fresh start," said Robinson.
Peterson's agent Ben Dogra reportedly approached the Vikings brass in recent days, seeking more guaranteed money for his client and, seemingly, signaling that Peterson would accept his fate and perform as a member of the Vikings this season.
Whether that report is accurate or not - and whether Dogra and his client are on the same page - per Robinson, Peterson remains adamant that he wants to play elsewhere.
"He has not changed," said Robinson. "His viewpoint, despite this offseason there has been a lot of overtures by the Vikings - obviously he met with Zygi and Mark Wilf in New Jersey, the owners of the Vikings, he met with Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer - but that Adrian Peterson is really frustrated right now. He feels that he sent the message clearly in those meetings to both Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman and then Zygi and Mark Wilf that he does not want to play for the Vikings anymore, that he feels like it's in his best interests to move on, not necessarily just as a football player, but as a person."
Per Robinson, it's not just Peterson's dissatisfaction with the perceived lack of support for himself and his family during his child abuse ordeal - it's the current state of affairs and the approach of the Vikings that has Peterson determined to find his way out as well.
"It kind of became clear early last week that he hadn't changed, his mindset was still that he wanted out, that he feels that he had made that clear and I think it's becoming personal to him because he feels like the Vikings are just simply in a mode where no matter what his reasoning is for wanting out, they just don't care," Robinson said. "That it's, 'You're coming, we don't care how you feel, we don't care if there's discomfort, we don't care if there's problems within your family because of certain things that have happened with the fan base and the media - you're coming here, you're our player and that's how it's going to be.'"
