The Minnesota Vikings and Adrian Peterson had a messy divorce toward the end of the 2016 season and Peterson believes a specific incident with former head coach Mike Zimmer helped accelerate his departure from Minnesota.
“There was one time that I felt disrespected and a coach was challenging me and this was right before I left Minnesota,” Peterson said on The Courtside Club podcast. The future Hall of Fame running back said Zimmer “disrespected” him after he returned from a torn meniscus late in the 2016 season.
Peterson explained he tore 90% of his meniscus in a Week 2 game against the Green Bay Packers and while the Vikings’ medical staff believed that Peterson’s season was over, Peterson convinced the Vikings to place him on injured reserve with the designation to return.
Peterson worked his way back in time for a Week 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts. But with the Vikings’ playoff hopes on the line, Peterson ran six times for 22 yards and had his last carry with 13:50 left in the third quarter. The performance was so bad that former Alex Boone ripped Peterson in an interview with Matthew Coller in 2019.
“He should be embarrassed for himself for how he played and how that game ended,” Boone said. “I’m not kidding you. I’ve never been around an NFL player that I was so embarrassed for and ashamed of at the same time. I was like “Dude, are you really being for real right now?'”
Boone recalled a moment when Peterson blamed the offensive line for his fumble just as the Vikings were moving into the red zone while trailing 17-0 in the second quarter.
“He ran the wrong way on a power and fumbled the ball and blamed it on the O-Line,” Boone said. “I was like ‘Dude, are we really going to have this conversation right now?’ And he was like ‘It’s your fault it’s the O-Line’s fault we lost’ and it’s like ‘Dude, you left in the first quarter.’ Like What? Where were you? We started a comeback and you fumbled the ball.”
While the loss didn’t officially eliminate the Vikings from playoff contention, it put them on life support heading into a Week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers. While the Vikings still had a slight chance to make the playoffs, Peterson refused to play, leading to an altercation with Zimmer.
“I was like ‘Coach, I just came back…it’s my first game and we have no chance to make the playoffs,'” Peterson recalled. “Why would I go out there and risk hurting myself?”
Peterson also said that he could have “shut it down” at the time of the injury because he was in the last year of his contract but said “That’s not my mentality.” That’s when Zimmer allegedly challenged his star running back.
“He was like, ‘Well I feel like if you were able to play last week, then you’re able to come out and play now,'” Peterson recalled. “I was like ‘I would do that if we really had a chance to make the playoffs but we don’t and I’m not going to go out here and hurt myself for a pointless game.'”
The comments contradict Boone’s from the 2019 interview, saying Peterson shut it down much earlier in the game against the Colts.
“Every time you talked to him, he was just so done,” Boone said. “If anyone remembers, we started that year 5-0 and even [Zimmer] was like ‘What is wrong with Adrian? He is not acting like himself.’ Everybody was just so weird that year and it was just not right. I swear meeting him has ruined me forever.”
The Packers officially eliminated the Vikings in a 38-25 loss which was also notable for the secondary straying from Zimmer’s game plan. But the altercation from Zimmer stuck with Peterson through the final weeks of the season.
“That’s the first time a coach has really just rubbed me wrong by challenging me,” Peterson said. “…And that one rubbed me so wrong because here I am, the face of the franchise. … I scratched back when your staff and your professionals told you that ‘He’s not going to be able to make it back in time and y’all should just sit him.’ I scratched back because that’s the love I have for the game and you’re going to disrespect me like that? I was through with him after that.”
The Vikings chose not to re-sign Peterson after his contract expired the following spring. Peterson signed with the New Orleans Saints but lasted just four games until he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals.
Peterson has since played for four different teams, spending two seasons with the Washington Commanders (2018-19), a season with the Detroit Lions (2020) and appearing in four combined games with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks in 2021.
Peterson has not played in a game since the 2021 season but has not officially retired.
