“He’s really got two choices. He can either play for us, or he can not play. He’s not going to play for anybody else, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
According to USA today, those were the prudent words Minnesota Vikings head coach delivered at his post-practice press conference on Wednesday after he was asked about disgruntled running back Adrian Peterson.
The answer didn’t leave room for speculation about Peterson’s future, and his words fall in line with a series of public messages everyone on the team – from General Manager Rick Spielman to Owner/President Mark Wilf – have made in the past.
Bottom line: The Vikings expect Peterson to play true to his contract.
On Adrian Peterson, Mike Zimmer is finally being the full, unvarnished Mike Zimmer. And it's great.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 27, 2015
On Tuesday, a report surfaced saying the former NFL MVP would do just about anything to avoid playing for the Vikings. But as it stands now, Zimmer was pretty clear in laying out the options.
Shutdown Corner’s Frank Schwab writes that the Vikings aren’t going to change their opinion and Peterson’s stubbornness is only making him look bad.
“Like Zimmer said, either Peterson plays for Minnesota, or he doesn’t play. Everyone should expect he’ll play. Peterson just looks bad by his camp continuing to press for a trade or leaking hard-to-believe retirement rumors. The conclusion likely won’t change no matter what other threats he or his handlers can invent.”
"I don't know when [Adrian Peterson] is coming, and we'll just leave it at that." – Mike Zimmer #Vikings
— Master (@MasterTes) May 27, 2015
"I also heard that [reports] said that Adrian told me he wasn't coming to OTAs, which was completely false." – Mike Zimmer #Vikings
— Master (@MasterTes) May 27, 2015
If baseball legend Yogi Berra were to give Peterson advice, it might look a little like his famous quote about taking the fork in the road.
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” Berra said.
The choice is Peterson’s, it seems.
