It's not clear yet where Adrian Peterson will play in 2015, but we should know for sure by May 2.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Vikings plan to hold onto Peterson if they can't find a trading partner by the end of the NFL Draft, which runs from April 30-May 2.
"If he's not traded next week, they're going to keep him," a source told the Pioneer Press.
That basically means that any team interested in Peterson has roughly 10 days to come up with an offer that the Vikings would find acceptable.
The reason Minnesota has made the draft the deadline for trading Peterson is because the team figures that any interested suitors would be willing to up their offer once star running backs like Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley have been selected.
According to the Pioneer Press, the Cowboys, Cardinals, Falcons, Jaguars, Chargers and Buccaneers are all "in the mix" for Peterson's services.
One thing that's not clear in a possible Peterson trade is what the Vikings want in return for their star running back.
ESPN's Adam Caplan thinks Minneosta wants a first-round pick AND a player on top of that, while Yahoo.com's Charles Robinson says the Vikings could get a second-round pick for Peterson. Then there's ESPN's John Clayton, who doesn't think the Vikings will get more than a fourth-rounder for Peterson.
Any team willing to trade for Peterson would have to be willing to take on his contract, which still has three years left and includes a $12.75 million base salary in 2015. If Peterson isn't willing to renegotiate his contract, then the Jags (over $35 million in cap space) and Bucs (over $25 million in cap space) would be in the best position to absorb Peterson's cap hit.
The upside for Minnesota is that if no one puts together an enticing offer, then the Vikings can just hang on to Peterson.
