Categories: Off-The-Field Issues
| On 9 years ago

Minnesota Vikings: Adrian Peterson Still Front And Center

By Adam Warwas

Image courtesy of Vikings.com

There was a flurry of Vikings noise and news on Thursday when the team put newly promoted Chief Operating Officer Kevin Warren in front of a speaker phone.

Warren, formerly the team’s legal counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, last made headlines in November when reports surfaced that he was opposed to Adrian Peterson returning to the Vikings and that he was actively working against it.

With Warren’s promotion came the opportunity to clear the air, or perhaps perform some strategic posturing, in regards to the ongoing Peterson saga.

“Our organization and individuals in our organization from Zygi Wilf to Mark Wilf to Coach Zimmer to Rick Spielman have made it very clear that they all would welcome Adrian back once he gets all of the open items resolved with the league and I feel the exact same way,” Warren said on Thursday, contradicting those reports from 2014.

“Adrian has spent his entire career here and he has not only been an absolutely phenomenal football player and a joy to watch,” he continued, according to 1500ESPN. “Also, he’s been a phenomenal individual in our community; he’s done so many good things that the public and media have heard about and then there are a lot of other things that he does on a very quiet and personal basis and so from my feelings about Adrian, I have great respect for him as a football player and a person. He’s part of our Vikings family.”

“I would welcome him back with open arms. As I said, I don’t think he left anywhere; he’s still a member of our team. A lot of the issues or a lot of the things that have been said, it’s probably not appropriate to even comment and respond to things that have been said or whatever, but I can tell you my feelings about Adrian are very positive. They’ve been very positive every day that he’s been here with the Vikings. I look forward to having him have an opportunity to play again and as Mark Wilf said yesterday, once he gets everything resolved and is in a position to play, he’s an absolutely incredible football player and he’s a great community ambassador and he’s been great for the game of football. I hope that he finishes his career here in Minnesota; I hope we can win multiple Super Bowls together and I hope I can attend his Hall of Fame induction in Canton one day many years down the road.”

I wrote back in December that the top priority for the Vikings this offseason would be to make sure Adrian Peterson makes the 2015 team better, either via a return or a lucrative trade, and Warren’s statement can only help one of those two scenarios take place.

The homer in me would like to take Warren’s words at face value.  The skeptic in me wonders if this is an attempt to boost Peterson’s trade value.  Either way, we’ve come a long way from the “they will have to cut him” talk that people spewed throughout October, and this is just the beginning of the end for this wild Vikings storyline.

Warren is entering his 11th season with the Vikings and his 17th year in the NFL.

Adam Warwas

Adam Warwas (Founder) has been writing about the Vikings for a total of eight years. Five of those years have been here at Vikings Territory where he continues to surround himself with enough talented individuals that people keep coming back. As proud as he is of what Vikings Territory has become, his real treasures are in his home... a beautiful wife and three amazing children (and a dog named Percy).

Tags: adrian peterson kevin warren

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  • I don't man, just looking at this Warren dude....I don't trust him. Looks like he talks from the side of his mouth.

  • Don't trust Kevin Warren. He was stabbing Adrian in the back when he was needed most. How he got promoted for that despicable ask is mind-boggling.

  • "I hope that sets it straight of how I feel about Adrian Peterson," Warren said.

    sure, that's now, but nowhere has he said, that i've seen, that he didn't say he didn't want AD back last year. if he had denied advising the vikings to keep AD off the team last year, i'd feel better about this guy, or even if he said he had advised the vikings to keep AD off the team last year for business reasons, and now he thinks it's ok for AD to come back, but, like CC, i don't trust him either. i'd rather see loyalty to players than loyalty to dollars

    warren also didn't get into the moral issues, either, so for now, that's a separate thing

  • left/right facial asymmetry is a good indicator of general honesty. The left side has no affect, the right looks like a slimeball.

  • Vikings can't trade AD this year. Or should I say it is virtually impossible unless AD is reinstated very soon. If AD isn't reinstated until April 15th there will only be a couple teams with cap room to trade for AD. And these are teams that AD wouldn't want to play for. AD will be a Viking this year, at a much lower salary.

    • the thing I am worried about, as I've said before, is that AP may very well think management threw him under the bus. (especially with Warren not being fired, but promoted). Other Vikes players may have the same impression. If impressions like this are common in the clubhouse, then the Vikings are going to have real difficulty long run. Good players will stay only so long as to build up a rep and then leave. Long term failure.

      • Another problem is all these bloggers saying trade AD, when it can't happen. I don't understand why they keep writing them. Are they trying to get hits on there blogs? These articles make it sound like Vikings fans want AD traded.

  • I don't trust this dude either. Something fishy going on here for sure. I want AD back and carrying the rock again and hope like hell he will take a little pay cut.

  • The tides turn, the majority of the fans were ready to tie AP up in town square and stone him to death, and now those same people are ready to forgive and forget, why would individuals in the upper echelon of the team be held to any other set of standards than most of the fans?

    • I told Arif way back in November that this would happen(fans and like would start to forgive and change their minds). We went back and forth about it. If AD has two or three 150 yard games to start the season all the sponsors even Nike will be back begging AD and the Vikings for contracts.

  • For the love of God! Can't we decide on his nickname! It's either AD (Which he prefers) or AP.
    NOT BOTH!!!! GEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZ!
    I vote for AD.

    • i'll give ya a thumbs up for that, fran

      as soon as i find the button for it

      i would've done it sooner, too, if i had seen what you said from the recent conversation box

      • Got it loud and clear, Cal! Haha

        I'm looking at different options. Actually added recent comments in the sidebar but its not what I want it to be right now. Working on it, sir!

          • One thing is all the social media junk on the sides. Don't need it. It would be nice to know whom wrote the article at the beginning of the article. Some articles have the author at the beginning some don't. Comments icon is really small and hard to find.

          • Thanks for the response WTF. What social media junk are you referring to? Right now we just have two links - one to our Facebook account and one to our Twitter. Actually, there was a lot more Social Media stuff in the previous sites' sidebar. Decided to rid of it because I thought it was a little too much.

            Authors are shown for all articles on the homepage. Once you click the page for that particular article, it doesn't have it at the top but instead has their name and bio after the post.

            I'll see what I can do about the comments icon.

            Thanks again for the feedback.

          • I like the new site.It has a much cleaner look and is easy to navigate.
            I'm sure you'll forget about the old site soon enough,sometimes it takes a while,but after you've used the new site and all the features it will be sweet.

      • I would have 'liked' yours too Cal and WTF. I guess what I'd like to see is a way to know when responses to a post is made. A lot of times when I make a comment, by the time I see that someone has responded, it's buried be hind numerous new ones and I never see it. I'd also like to see the 'Top commentors' come back. Only because I was going on Coach. . .
        I also have to fill in my email and user name each time I post. Wish that would change.

        • Fran, let me look into this. The commenting credentials should be saved so you aren't required to enter it everytime. (Unless you clear your browser cookies)

          You can subscribe to comments so your are notified of any responses. When leaving a comment, check the "notify me of new comments via email" box.

          I'll look into the Top Commentors again. Eventually we plan on expanding the site and including some group discussion features. That could be something we implement there.

          Thanks for the feedback, gentleman.

          • Brett, I'm definitely NOT clearing my cookies (That could be a new term for puking, just saying) I really would prefer to sign in here on VT rather than facebook. Hope you can figure it out. And by the way, nice job on the new site. A lot of us have critiqued it but all in all, it's a change for the better. Thanks for your hard work!

        • it's the same way for me Fran. I don't like having to type e-mail and name every time

          • I'll look into this. It should remember your email/name (unless you clear your cookies of course).

            In the mean time, have you guys tried to login through Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter or Google. If you do one of those methods once, all you have to do is click the icon again next time and you don't have to re-type everything.

          • Ok guys i do understand but we all should appreciate that we still have a site to COMMENTS on.... That's why we are able to have this discussion and yes of course please upgrade if can to... Any way let's change Subject .... Big Subject - Lets make a big twist on the Vikings draft - Regarding AP.... SO this is just 4 fun !!!
            4 FUN = Free agency singing WR Dez Bryant G Orlando Franklin OT Bryan Bulaga Draft = #11 WR DeVante Parker trade back in to 1st rd and get WR Dorial Green-Beckham . Round 3 A.J. Cann OG South Carolina 6' 3" 315 Round 4 Jake Fisher OT 6' 5" 290 if still on the board or other - Jeremiah Poutasi OT Utah 6' 6" 325
            Here we have a all OFFENSE and it's all about passing
            # 1 WR Dez Bryant # 2 Dorial Green-Beckham # 3 DeVante Parker, WR TE Kyle Rudolph
            LT Matt Kalil LG Orlando Franklin C John Sullivan RG Brandon Fusco RT Bryan Bulaga = If Matt Kalil suck up again - can try phil loadholt as back up for RT and LT
            or Jake Fisher or Jeremiah Poutasi come in at LT
            OL and DEPTH Joe Berger , A.J. Cann , Jake Fisher or Jeremiah Poutasi and phil loadholt
            SO with all that AP is no longer needed = Jerick McKinnon Screen pass
            This is why phil loadholt is a back up now but a really good one
            Remember now this is just 4 fun to change the Subject and AP
            Still like AP - just hope he takes a pay cut

          • Ooh ..! For got one more thing # 1 WR Dez Bryant # 2 WR Dorial Green-Beckham # 3 WR DeVante Parker, and TE Kyle Rudolph...... Who are you going to cover and who can you cover.... all big Receivers = 6'3 up

          • Well hey, hey ,hey! Big Johnny! Where the heck you been?? Hope all is well. Now if we could find out what happened to Freds. . .

          • Hello there Sir Francis. All is well and good. I have an idea about Freds but I can't post it here.

        • I found that if I just click or double click the boxes they will auto fill my information. Sometimes I can go a few days and never have to fill in the boxes, then sometimes it is every time I try to comment all day long I have to fill in the boxes.

        • Hi Fellas, thanks for all the feedback! We are always on the lookout for ways to improve so we appreciate hearing back. For instance, we had no idea until now that some of you are experiencing an issue with the comment editor resetting your name and email in between comments... we'll be checking into that.

          Also, feel free to email either Brett or I at anytime with more criticism or feedback. Doing that not only ensures we see your comment (we try to read all thread comments, but don't always see them), but you can be more specific too... like telling us what device or operating system you are using if you are experiencing a problem.

          Thanks!

          • I just sent an 'Attaboy to Brett above and forgot to mention you! Sorry about that. Thanks for starting VT in the first place and really appreciate your hard work too Adam!

      • Funny how the PC crowd is calming down and changing their tune. I think a ot of that is for hits on their blogs.

      • he was of the pitchfork crowd.
        Pope Francis says spanking is OK, some SJWs are going all grumblegrumble about that. Meanwhile a US Senator says parents own their children.
        Now I personally do not think so, having been a child once ... but I do not think the pitchfork crowd was right either -- then or now.