What should the Vikings do about Adrian Peterson?

While Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was reinstated to the league this morning, his future with the team is in doubt.

This Thursday morning, Adrian Peterson was reinstated to the NFL. The suspension was the result of excessive discipline of his four-year old son, and now that it has been fully lifted, the Minnesota Vikings face major questions regarding how to move forward with or without their star running back.

The first thing the Vikings are going to have to do is to consider Peterson’s value as a player compared to his value as a trade asset. Peterson recently turned 30 years old, a dreaded milestone for many running backs in the NFL. With the exception of last year because he spent it on the side lines, Peterson has carried the majority of the Vikings offensive load.

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With a still developing quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater and a dearth of offensive weapons, that would end up most definitely remaining the case if Peterson returned to the Vikings this season. One has to question how many more years Peterson has left as a top-echelon back, and if the Vikings overuse of him continues, how it will affect the how many productive years he has left in the NFL.

The problem is that the 30-year old benchmark may not apply to Peterson. He has clearly been the most physically gifted running back in the NFL so far, and has proven to be an exception to the passer-friendly NFL as a grinding, number one back. It’s an easy answer, but it’s also a true one: it cannot be known how Peterson will play once he returns until he is actually on the field. If the Vikings choose to keep him, they commit to at least $15 million in three years for a running back on the wrong side of 30.

With that being said, perhaps the best option for the Vikings would be to trade Adrian Peterson. He has reportedly drawn interest from the Arizona Cardinals who would list running back as their top priority, and he himself has shown interest in the Dallas Cowboys who just lost rushing champion DeMarco Murray to intra-divisional rival Philadelphia Eagles.

The Vikings would be able to draw at best a late first round choice for Peterson, but more likely a second rounder and a mid-rounder with the strength of the draft’s running back class taken into consideration. A second round choice would be worth it for the Vikings to eliminate as much dead cap as possible while the team rebuilds around Teddy Bridgewater.

A best case scenario for the Vikings would be AD + a fifth to the Cardinals for the 24th choice. That would give them flexibility to grow on offense, and put them in a position to take either Georgia’s Todd Gurley or Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon (hopefully it is the latter so we can all see the greasy tears of Packers fans on draft day).

The other thing the Vikings need to consider is the ethical implications of keeping Peterson on the team next year. On one hand, an argument is that Peterson has served his punishment from the NFL already; his suspension was an appropriate penalty for excessively disciplining his child. At the same time, the Vikings have demonstrated before with the indefinite suspension of Peterson that they have zero tolerance for domestic violence, and have a more responsive reaction than we’ve seen from the NFL lately.

The Vikings appear to be concerned not only about the moral makeup of the team but also their perception in the media.

A team like the Cowboys, on the other hand, has been eager to add players to their roster with questionable transgressions; they did so just last month with Greg Hardy. The Vikings could be eager to rid themselves of Peterson, and the Cowboys could be eager to land the most visible running back star in the league.

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