Tuesday was an eventful day in the Adrian Peterson saga, as the NFL ruled in the morning that the Vikings running back would be suspended for at least the rest of the season and wouldn’t be considered for possible reinstatement until April 15, 2015. In the afternoon, the league also announced that arbitrator Shyam Das had declined the NFLPA’s appeal to remove Peterson from the commissioner’s exempt list. So unless Peterson’s appeal of the suspension is successful, we won’t be seeing the former All-Pro until at least 2015.
Here’s the latest on the situation:
- After Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, appeared on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike to criticize the league’s handling of the case, NFL executive VP Jeff Pash responded by defending the league’s decision (link via ESPN.com). “We’re not trying to end his career, we want to extend his career,” Pash said. “We want to have a great player on the field with the confidence that he won’t face these kind of issues again.”
- When the NFLPA issued a statement yesterday announcing that it intended to appeal Peterson’s suspension, the statement mentioned that Peterson had been told by an NFL executive his stint on the exempt list would be considered “time served.” Troy Vincent was the league exec in question, and while he acknowledged telling Peterson that his time on the exempt list would be taken into account, that came with a caveat, as he tells Tom Pelissero of USA Today. “But Adrian, you’ve got to come talk,” Vincent recalls telling the running back. “You, your team, your counselors, whoever. Just come and tell us where you are.” Peterson and his representatives failed to appear at the disciplinary hearing that took place last week.
- While the NFL’s statement on Tuesday indicated that Peterson is being suspended for the rest of the season without pay, he’ll remain on the exempt list and continue to be paid during the appeal process. As Darren Heitner of Forbes.com points out, that process figures to take some time — even though the appeal hearing will reportedly be “scheduled promptly,” the word “prompt” is subjective, and the appeal may not be resolved for a few weeks.
- The Vikings are publicly on board with the NFL’s suspension of Peterson, but are “privately fuming” about the league’s decision, according to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post.