Vikings: Adrian Peterson Trade Now Seems Unlikely
Adrian Peterson has been the center of attention during this Vikings offseason, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon. Unless he’s traded, of course.
However, the Vikings have reportedly announced the asking price for Peterson in a potential trade and it leads me to believe that a trade is becoming increasingly unlikely.
According to ESPN’s Adam Caplan, word around the NFL is that the Vikings are asking for a first round draft pick and other compensations. Caplan says that this extra compensation would likely have to be a quality starting cornerback that the Vikings could plug into the starting role heading into the 2015.
Caplan’s report tells me two things, and both of these things point to a Peterson trade being pretty unlikely. The first thing is that the Vikings will do a lot to keep Peterson from being traded. It seems as if Peterson is still seen as a very valuable member of this team, and they’ll treat him as one when it comes to dealing him to other teams.
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The second thing this tells me is that there has been legitimate talks going on between other teams and the Vikings in an attempt to work out a deal. Throughout the last couple months, the rumored asking price was generally around a second or third round draft pick. It’s likely that multiple teams have tried to offer a deal similar, and the asking price keeps increasing as these teams battle for Peterson. With the asking price now at more than a first round pick, it seems pretty clear that the Vikings are thinking that there’s a small chance that a team could take this bait. Why else would they announce an asking price this ridiculous?
If I’m an NFL GM interested in trading for Peterson, the best I’m going to offer is a second round pick. It’s just unnecessary in today’s NFL to trade away a valuable first round pick or other asset for a thirty-year-old running back, even if that running back is the unhuman Adrian Peterson. As we’ve seen in the past few years, it’s not terribly difficult to find a serviceable running back in free agency or in the later rounds of the draft.
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There’s one more point I’d like to add regarding a possible Adrian Peterson trade. Peterson has made it pretty clear that he’s “uneasy” in Minnesota and that he wants a fresh start. If he doesn’t want to be in a Vikings uniform this season, then get rid of him. Keeping the guy on the team when he doesn’t want to be there won’t help anyone. I understand that he’s under contract and everything, but as a fan, I don’t want to cheer for a guy that doesn’t want to be a Viking.
With that said, it’s all up to the Vikings front office to make this decision; Peterson’s desires really don’t matter. In the end, we’ll roll with whatever the front office decides to do with Peterson. In an ideal world, the Vikings will be able to keep Adrian Peterson and he’ll be excited to be a Viking this season.
This is the Vikings, though, and history tells us that the ideal situation probably won’t happen. But we can hope, right?