Vikings, Adrian Peterson Restructure Contract

1:09pm: According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Peterson’s new deal includes $20MM in guaranteed money, though some of that money is guaranteed for injury only. While Florio doesn’t have the official details yet, he speculates that Peterson’s 2015 salary (approximately $13MM) is likely fully guaranteed, while a portion of his 2016 salary is guaranteed for injury, and will later become fully guaranteed.

12:07pm: As expected, the restructured deal will give Peterson additional guaranteed money in 2015 and 2016, tweets Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. According to Robinson, Peterson’s 2017 salary will still be non-guaranteed, though if the new contract features a signing bonus, that would mean adding some dead money to the team’s books for ’17.Adrian Peterson

11:57am: The Vikings and running back Adrian Peterson have mutually agreed to restructure the final three years of Peterson’s contract, the team announced today in a press release. The terms of the agreement weren’t released by the club, but the move – which GM Rick Spielman calls “a win” for both the team and the player – likely ensures that Peterson will get some guaranteed money this year and next year.

“I appreciate the Vikings for working together on this restructured contract, which provides additional security for me but also allows opportunities for me to further prove my value to the team and within the NFL,” Peterson said in a statement. “It was important for me to continue my career in Minnesota, and I cannot wait to get on the field in front of Vikings fans again.”

The relationship between Peterson and the Vikings was strained earlier this offseason, with multiple reports suggesting that the running back and his agent Ben Dogra were angling for a trade after Peterson was reinstated from his suspension. However, Minnesota’s brass repeatedly stated that the team was not considering such a move, and after the draft came and went without a deal, Dogra and his client appeared to shift their focus to securing additional guaranteed money. In late May, Peterson ranted on Twitter about the lack of guaranteed contracts in the NFL.

Although Peterson had been scheduled to earn base salaries of $12.75MM, $14.75MM, and $16.75MM from 2015 to 2017, none of those figures were fully or even partially guaranteed. Additionally, the 30-year-old’s deal didn’t feature any dead money on the Vikings’ cap beyond this season, which would have made it easy for the team to move on from him if his production had fallen off.

Peterson, of course, missed nearly all of the 2014 season after being indicted in a child injury case. The Vikings running back spent most of the year on paid leave on the commissioner’s exempt list before being suspended for the final six games of the regular season once his legal case was resolved. Peterson reportedly felt that the team didn’t sufficiently support him during his absence, which led to the acrimonious relationship between the two sides this spring.

Ultimately, Peterson and the Vikings appeared to mend fences to some extent when the former MVP reported to OTAs without a new deal in place. Now that his contract has been reworked, I imagine Peterson will be even happier with his situation when he reports to training camp in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

View Comments (1)