The NFL free agency period doesn’t begin until Thursday, but Adrian Peterson already seems to have a small problem: No one seems to be interested in him.
Peterson will definitely end up signing somewhere, but right now, it doesn’t look like he’ll end up with one of the teams that’s on his free agency wish list.
Peterson’s dad, Nelson, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Tuesday that his son would be interested in signing with the Raiders, Seahawks or Patriots. Unfortunately for Peterson, the feeling doesn’t seem to be mutual with any of those teams.
Let’s start with the Raiders.
On #Raiders and Adrian Peterson: Source said interest level is more on his end to join team than theirs.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 8, 2017
Nope, not interested.
How about the Seahawks?
#Seahawks have no immediate interest in Adrian Peterson, I'm told. History shows they'll revisit sometimes if a guy is sitting out there.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 8, 2017
They don’t really seem to be interested, either. If the Seahawks do contact Peterson, it doesn’t seem like anything that would happen anytime soon. Basically, Peterson would still have to be on the market in a few weeks for Seattle to maybe “revisit” the possibility of signing him.
Of course, there’s always the Patriots. Bill Belichick is known for bringing in aging veterans at a discounted price, so Peterson would be a perfect fit there, right? Wrong.
The Patriots haven’t even discussed Peterson, which is definitely bad news for the Vikings running back because free agency is less than 24 hours away.
Patriots haven't discussed adding Adrian Peterson, and likely won't https://t.co/D8SDAlkmj6
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 8, 2017
If Peterson’s going to sign with a contender, it’s looking more and more like he’s going to have to take a monstrous pay cut to do it.
The Seahawks and Raiders may not be interested because Peterson doesn’t really fit their scheme.
Both teams run their offenses primarily out of shotgun, which is something Peterson isn’t used to. According to ESPN.com, nearly 95 percent of Peterson’s career carries have come with the quarterback under center.
That’s a huge number when you consider the fact that both the Raiders and Seahawks were in shotgun formation more than 67 percent of the time in 2016 (The Patriots only lined up in shotgun 53.7 percent of the time).
At this point, Peterson’s best options might be the Lions, Packers or a return to Minnesota. Of course, signign with the Vikings isn’t even a guarantee at this point. Minnesota is the one team that’s been allowed to legally make a contract offer to Peterson this week and they still haven’t offered anything.
