Adrian Peterson was set to count $18 million against the Minnesota Vikings’ cap during the 2017, so the Vikings decided shortly before free agency opened to cut their ties with one of the best players in the franchise’s history. Nearly a month later, Peterson is still sitting on the open market, unsigned.
Why? According to ESPN.com, his asking price is simply way too high.
Adrian Peterson might have priced himself out of signing with a team early in free agency.
Peterson is still on the market in part because of a hefty initial asking price, league sources told ESPN.
One source from a team in the market for a running back believes Peterson wanted more than $8 million in the first year of a contract.
An $8 million salary in the first year of his contract would make Peterson the second-highest paid running back in the NFL next season, per Spotrac. For a player entering his age-32 season and coming off both a serious injury and a year during which he averaged a career-low 1.9 yards per carry, that is not at all realistic.
A contract more in the $4 million to 5 million range, like the one recently signed by Eddie Lacy, seems like a much more likely eventual settling point. Whether there is a team willing to offer Peterson even that much remains to be seen. He is one of the best running backs of all time, but also not necessarily on that is well-equipped to be a part-time player. It doesn’t currently appear that anyone is interested in him as a lead back (at least not at his price point), so it could be a while before this situation gets resolved.
