SI’s Peter King: Adrian Peterson’s current contract is a ‘non-starter’ for Arizona Cardinals
Mar 16, 2015, 2:04 PM | Updated: 4:20 pm
And the Adrian Peterson trade rumors continue.
Following reports over the weekend from Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports and Jordan Schultz of Huffington Post that indicated progress in trade talks between the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings for the former MVP.
Monday morning, another blurb was released.
This one was from Peter King of The MMQB on SI.com, and it says that a major sticking point in any potential deal will be Peterson’s contract status.
There’s some noise out there that Adrian Peterson could be traded to Arizona. Well, I guess he could, at some point. But the money would be a major problem. I spoke with a reliable Cardinals source Sunday night, and the three years and $45 million left on Peterson’s contract is an absolute non-starter with the Cards. “We haven’t had contact with the Vikings about it, to the best of my knowledge,” the source said. “And there is no way we could live with those numbers. We just got Larry Fitzgerald’s contract under control. No way we’d add that salary.” Two other detrimental factors: Arizona loves the running-back crop in this draft, and the Cardinals, with the 23rd and 55th overall picks, would be able to get a very good one. And Peterson turns 30 on Saturday. Not an optimum age for a back, even one who got so little wear on his tires in 2014.
The way the contract is currently structured, Peterson’s number would be a $15.4 million cap hit in 2015.
And as King points out, this is one of the stronger running back drafts in recent memory, with Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon and Georgia’s Todd Gurley headlining the class.
There has not been a running back drafted in the first round since Cleveland tabbed Trent Richardson out of Alabama with the third overall pick in 2012.
The Cardinals currently hold the 24th (not the 23rd) pick in the first round.
