Posts tagged: adrian peterson

Peterson Shows His Determination

May 9, 2012, by 2 comments

On December 24th, Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson suffered a major knee injury and had to celebrate the new year while recovering from reconstructive surgery.

On Wednesday, Peterson and head trainer Eric Sugarman met with Minneapolis media to show that both the player and team are cautiously optimistic that he will be able to return to playing meaningful football early in the 2012 season, perhaps even the opening game.

“That first game against Jacksonville, I plan on being back, so that will be disappointing if I’m not,” said Peterson.

“I’ve been ahead of the schedule since Day One,” Peterson continued. “The staff here, the staff down in Houston, they’ve been doing a great job with just pushing me, pushing me, but having that limit on it and knowing that, ‘Hey, Adrian, I know you want to do this, but you’ve just got to play it slow and it will come.’ ”

“You know, he’s to the point now where he’s really safe to do just about anything,” Sugarman said. “We gradually ramp him up to functional activity, and when we get to the point where he’s comfortable and has normal strength back to the other side — or better than the other side — and can function as he needs to, then we make that decision.

“He realizes now that there’s too much to lose by doing something foolish,” Sugarman added. “He has been pretty good. Now you have to pull back on the reins every once in a while and just remind him. But he has been pretty good about it, and I’m on the record as saying that he’ll continue.”

Peterson worked out in front of the media on Wednesday, performing a litany of drills and exercises to show just how far he has come.  He wore a brace on his knee for everything except for straight-line running.  Cutting and deceleration are the hardest things to do for Peterson at this point.

While Peterson showed a willingness to appease trainers by taking things as slow as his ultra-competitive personality will let him, he said that he has no intentions of playing second fiddle to Toby Gerhart once he does make it onto the field in the regular season.

“I’m not going to see myself in a limited role,” he said. “I want to be out there full throttle. … I feel like I’ll be able to go out there and help my team. That’s where my mind-set is going to be at.”

Peterson Starts Cutting At Winter Park

April 27, 2012, by 2 comments

Despite all of the Draft excitement and stadium drama, we would be remiss if we neglected to update you on of this offseason’s other most important storylines.

On Tuesday, Leslie Frazier gave us an update on the progress of Adrian Peterson following his December 30th knee surgery.

“He’s doing great. He’s been here throughout this week and had a chance to run with our players on Tuesday,” Frazier said of Peterson. “He was off to the side working with our trainer, Eric Sugarman, and he looked out and saw the guys doing their wind sprints and he said, ‘You know, I don’t think they’re running hard enough.’ Eric allowed him to go out and run with them and he passed them four different times. He finished in first four different times. I remember Joe Webb saying, ‘I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.’ He’s doing great and we’re optimistic that he’s going to be ready for that first game. I know that’s his goal and we’ll just see how he continues to progress, but he’s doing great.”

“He’s begun some cutting, but that’s the next step. He has to get to the point where he’s comfortable cutting. Straight ahead he’s doing great,” Frazier said. “Now he has to get to the point where he’s comfortable with being able to go left to right or right to left and stopping and starting. One step at a time. Right now it’s cutting.”

In addition to the Peterson update, Frazier also pointed out that Percy Harvin’s shoulder surgery went well and that Harvin is at home recovering.  Harvin is almost certain to be ready to go for OTA’s.

Frazier also expressed excitement about the team’s attendance at their offseason conditioning program.  Three players are missing, one of which is Jared Allen, but it sounds like there is nothing to be concerned about there.

Trade Jared Allen? We Should Talk About That

April 14, 2012, by 16 comments

A number of weeks ago, Brett and I had a little side discussion about the possibility of the Vikings trading Jared Allen this offseason.  We were even thinking about doing a little back-and-forth feature at the time, as we knew it was inevitable that some other media outlet would bring up this possibility, but we never quite managed to get around to it.

Now that I am back from a long work week, however, I took some time to review all the comments from the last few days and one jumped out to me.

In the comment, a reader says that he heard on a local radio station that a rumor is making the rounds that the Vikings are possibly (could be, maybe, potentially, maybe) considering entertaining offers for their stud right end.

Earlier this offseason, Rick Spielman went out of his way to say that Adrian Peterson was the only player that was off the table in terms of an early departure, which makes sense considering the blockbuster deal they just signed him to.  He easily could have included Jared Allen in that statement, but didn’t.

So, it makes sense that the Vikings won’t trade Peterson, but would an Allen trade make sense?

First, let’s take a look at some possible reasons to consider it an option:

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Gerhart Still On Track

April 12, 2012, by 7 comments

Is this Adam posting?!?  Really?  Sorry for my absence as of late, everyone.  Those of you that have been reading my rambling jottings for a while now will likely remember a couple of years back when I had to miss the NFL Draft because the company I work for held their annual shareholder meetings (attendance not optional for employees) during Draft Week.

Luckily, since we have big plans for a weekend-long live chat, this year I will be around for the entire draft which is good news.  The bad news, however, is those meetings are this week so I have been swamped.  Brett has done a fantastic job, however, of keeping the site updated with his Draft analysis and I really, really appreciate it.

As always, I couldn’t go too long without posting, though, so I wanted to pass along a little bit of good news that is a couple of days old.

Running back Toby Gerhart injured his MCL at the end of last season and decided to forego surgery and proceed with rehabilitation.  Gerhart thinks he will be ready by the time OTA’s get started.

“I should be able to do everything once we get back,” Gerhart said.  “I’m still strengthening the quad, and the MCL has healed on its own. The key is just doing more running. I still get a little soreness when I run, but that goes away the next day. I’m on track.”

This is an important piece of news as Gerhart stands to carry a heavier-than-normal share of the work at the beginning of this season, as Adrian Peterson is still on the mend from his ever-serious knee injury of his own.

Ranking The Vikings Draft Needs

April 9, 2012, by 4 comments

I am a big fan of drafting best player available, regardless of need, and building your team around solid, young players instead of reaching to fill a void.  After all, there is nothing wrong with having good depth at a position and/or getting better at something you are already good at.

Still, teams have needs and the Minnesota Vikings are quite obviously no exception. 

With that, I present you with my rankings of how the Vikings needs stack up going into this year’s Draft:

1.      Safety

There is perhaps no positional group on any team in the NFL that needs upgrading more than the Vikings need to upgrade their safeties.  Heck, at this point I would say the Vikings have a greater need at safety than the Dolphins do at quarterback.  The thought of Jamarca Sanford and Mistral Raymond being starters instead of depth players, especially in our division, should worry even the most enthusiastic optimists.

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Peterson Makes Blockbuster Donation

April 5, 2012, by No comments yet

Adrian Peterson may have looked like a man disconnected from the real world when he compared NFL player to slaves in a Yahoo! Interview during the NFL Lockout, but it is hard to deny that he also comes off as one of the most genuinely nice and generous dudes in the league.

No former Oklahoma Sooner has ever donated as much back to their college as Peterson pledged on Thursday.

He is donating a whopping $1 million to the University of Oklahoma’s Athletics Department.

“This was something that I had been thinking about doing for a long time,” Peterson said in a statement. “I always hoped to be in a position to be able to donate back to the University of Oklahoma and make it an even better place; do whatever I could to help the university that did so much for me. It was something that I always wanted to do and there just came a time when I got established and comfortable enough to make it happen. It was a no-brainer to do it and I am thankful that I’m in a position to give back to OU and to show my appreciation.”

The donation will help pay for construction of a housing hall, will fund a scholarship foundation in Peterson’s name, and will see the football team’s meeting room named after him.

Many of us are still making involuntary payments to our college’s via student loans, so it refreshing to see someone like Peterson being so generous with his good fortune in an effort to help out his school and their future students.

Well done, Adrian.  Well done.

Peterson Back To Doing What He Does Best… Running

April 3, 2012, by 4 comments

Vikings fans were all up in arms when star running back Adrian Peterson suffered a scary knee injury in what was essentially a meaningless game last season.

Now, however, the fan base seems to be somewhat excited about his rehabilitation progress and the idea of him making back for what very easily could end up being a meaningless season.

Last week, Peterson reached a major milestone when he was able to run on dry land for the first time since suffering the injury.  This keeps him on track with a timeline that would put him in the lineup during week one of the 2012 season.

“Did a great job and everybody was impressed,” Leslie Frazier said on Tuesday. “Our trainer, (Eric) Sugarman, was impressed with his movement and the things he was able to do. He’s on schedule. He’s doing well.”

Fraizer continued to stress, as he has all offseason, the importance of Peterson’s ability to restrain himself and not push the issue and create a situation in which he could do further damage.

“We had that conversation, too,” Frazier said. “He said, ‘How fast should I go?’ We’re just trying to judge movement, and he wants to run a 4.3 40. But he has to let that graft continue to heal. He understands there’s a time frame he’s working within, and so far, so good.”

While the Vikings are sure to be tickled pink if Peterson can set a new standard for rehab and return for the start of the season, it would be completely shocking if they let him run wild right out of the gate.  Even if he makes it back on time, expect to see Peterson on a strict pitch count with Toby Gerhart getting plenty of action.