Vikings ready to move on from Peterson

Ten weeks gone and the specter of Adrian Peterson lingers in the Minnesota Vikings locker room at Winter Park, nameplate still above his stall and No. 28 jerseys hanging untouched with the rest of his playing gear.

But there was a sense of finality Wednesday as his teammates answered another round of questions about the running back, who is fighting an NFL suspension that banished him for the final six games of the 2014 season.
Peterson has been absent since Sept. 12 after a Texas grand jury indicted him on a child abuse charge. There is a strong possibility Minnesota’s one-time franchise player will never return.
“We know now he’s not coming through those doors and coming back this year to be on our team,” cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said. “We knew it was coming; we just have to move on.”
Peterson has plenty of allies among colleagues, who have advocated for his character and quest to rejoin the team since plea-bargaining his case down to a misdemeanor earlier this month.
But his appeal, piloted by the NFL Players Association, is a long shot, and talk about his presence in the backfield Wednesday turned toward the 2015 season and the uncertainty of whether Peterson will ever be back.
“A sense of knowing it’s over with kind of puts people at ease,” running back Jerick McKinnon said. “It’s not what we wanted, but at the same time, we hope he gets another shot. He’s a great player and a great mentor.”
Perhaps no player was more affected by Peterson’s sudden departure than the rookie fast-tracked to be his replacement.
“Words can’t even describe. Adrian’s a guy I look up to,” McKinnon said. “I came in and learned a lot from him fast. I think different things about the whole situation. ... Honestly I don’t agree with it. There’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do about it is play my part with this organization and do the best I can.”
Munnerlyn was the most outspoken critic of the NFL’s Sept. 17 decision to place Peterson on paid leave after his arrest, and he did not back down when asked about commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment.
“I don’t agree with it,” Munnerlyn said. “He missed nine games already. But at the end of the day, the NFL came up with that decision. We have to live with it.”
Coach Mike Zimmer briefly addressed the Peterson situation during Wednesday’s team meeting, as he has throughout the two-month episode. Ultimately, nothing really has changed for the Vikings (4-6), who have been without Peterson since the end of summer and now face the high-powered Green Bay Packers (7-3) on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium.
“Adrian’s a great person, a great leader,” linebacker Jasper Brinkley said. “Any time you lose a guy like that it’s going to hurt, but we’ve been dealing with it since Week 2.”
The commissioner harshly criticized Peterson’s decision to whip his 4-year-old son with a switch, resulting in numerous injuries to the boy. Goodell ordered him to receive counseling and determined he would not be eligible for reinstatement until April 15. Peterson’s effort to be removed from the Commissioner’s Exempt List, a move that may have seen him return to the field while appealing Goodell’s decision, was denied late Tuesday by arbitrator Shaym Das.
None of the players interviewed said they read Goodell’s 1,500-word statement.
“No, I didn’t read into it,” Munnerlyn said. “I just seen the decision and moved on. Get ready for Green Bay.”
“To tell you the truth,” defensive end Brian Robison said, “I (couldn’t) care less about reading it. I just want to make sure we go out and give ourselves the best opportunity to win on Sunday. You’ve got to go with the guys that are here. We’d love to have Adrian here. But we’ve got 53 guys in here that are fighting hard every week, and that’s what we have to go with.”