Viking Adrian Peterson
Despite the rumors, the pie-in-the-sky scenarios, and those crazy conspiracy theories, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson isn't going anywhere.
Peterson and his camp have tried everything this offseason to force their way out of Minnesota. There were the trade rumors, followed by skipping offseason workouts, and threats of retirement. Hell, even Peterson recently went on a twitter rant to publicly discuss the unfair nature of non-guaranteed NFL contracts.
Here's why the Vikings hold all of the cards in this game of checkers, not chess:
Peterson was due to make $13M dollars in compensation for 2015. That has now been reduced to $12.75M because Peterson plans to withhold his workout services this offseason, costing him $250,000 in a workout bonus.
The problem for Peterson is that his six year contract has three years remaining on it, but the guaranteed money on the deal runs out in 2015. Guaranteed money offers the player protection from being cut, as it forces the team to deal with money allocated to a player that is no longer on the team. Peterson has no such protection after this year.
Come 2016, a 31 year old Peterson is due to $15M. The Vikings could choose to cut him and save every penny of that $15M. Needless to say, a 32 year old Peterson will almost certainly not see the $17M he's due in 2017. Here's how it breaks down:
Adrian Peterson
2015: 12.75M base salary (250,000 workout bonus - WILL NOT BE EARNED)
2016: 14.75M base salary (250,000 workout bonus)
2017: 16.75M base salary (250,000 workout bonus)
Peterson could choose to retire in order to attempt to force a Vikings move. But the guaranteed money remaining on his contract for 2015 makes that prohibitive. The Vikings have already paid $2.4M dollars to Peterson that is accounted for in 2015, the team could demand Peterson to pay them that back if he chooses to retire.
At the end of the day, Peterson could cost himself $13M dollars for 2015, and would than have to pay the Vikings another $2.4M. Whatever you think of Peterson's intellect, he's certainly not going to go down the retirement road.
Peterson's only hope would be for a team to offer at least a future first rounder to Minnesota for his services and offer him a new contract. For a 30 year old running back who's played in just one game since 2013, that's the biggest pie-in-the-sky scenario of all.