dead_poet wrote:It's a good read and I agree that this is probably poised for a stalemate that lasts awhile with little to no communication from Peterson, his agent or Vikings brass. Everyone (save Peterson himself) has been public about their stance. The Vikings want him back. They won't release him. They'll only trade him for fair value. Peterson apparently wants out. The big problem I see is time. There's a lot of it between now and September 10. Which means six more months of media (and fan) speculation, though I suppose it'll come to a head earlier than that at Vikings training camp. I just hope it doesn't get any uglier. If it does, it'll likely come from AD's camp as I would hope the Vikings management sticks to the talking points they've developed thus far and don't add any unnecessary fuel to this dumb fire.
I can't help but feel saddened (and annoyed) it has come to this, but I still hold out hope that Adrian the Football Player will emerge from all this and we'll forget this entire thing by Week 4 as he tears up the league again. That's my hope anyway.
For what it's worth, I don't think that's an unrealistic hope at all, especially because I believe this situation probably has more to do with getting guaranteed money than anything else. I don't doubt that there are other issues at play but Dogra is basically playing the only card he has and I'm betting it's to get some guaranteed money for his client and himself, one way or another. From a PR point of view, the timing is awful but from a contractual/financial view, the timing is right and I'd say there's a chance this standoff could have happened this spring even without the events surrounding Peterson last year.
Anyway, it's been stated again and again that Peterson has no leverage. That's not quite true but he doesn't have much and the leverage he has is the leverage Dogra is using. If they want more guaranteed money, the only way they're going to get it is via an actual trade, followed by a renegotiation to make Peterson's contract more manageable for his new team, or from the Vikings, who have no incentive to give it to him unless they want to reduce his cap hit now. Consequently, the only card Camp Peterson can play is the implied threat of a holdout, followed by an actual holdout once mandatory team activities begin. It's ugly but it's also the way these things often go when it comes to big NFL contracts and star players. It does sadden me to see things come to this.
I just can't see AD, for the great competitor he is, to sit at home and brood, get fined, draw ire of his coaches and teammates (while they support him returning I'd be curious how they'd feel about him actually pouting/holding out) and get even further behind all-time NFL rushing records. That would surprise (and disappoint) me quite a bit. I fear this thread will get a lot longer before we can close the book on this saga.
Oh, I have no doubt...
I think you're right on target about Peterson's competitive spirit. I suspect the last thing he'll want to do is miss more games. The strategy appears to be to get the Vikings to "meet in the middle" and either cut a new deal or trade him. I'm sure the Vikes don't want a standoff that lasts into the regular season but it's the NFL so both sides will likely dig in for months to see who blinks first. We'll probably see a lot more posturing (and hear a lot more fan venting and media rumormongering) between now and August.
Edit: It will be quite interesting to see if the Vikings take one of this draft class' top RBs in the first three rounds and how that affects things (if at all).
That will be interesting! As you and I have discussed, I'd go ahead and take a back like Coleman if he's available. I'm hoping the Vikes do that and if they do, I think it would only strengthen their position.
