Adrian Peterson's father: 'He is open to returning to the Vikings'
The father of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has denied a report that his son has no desire to play in Minnesota next season.
"He is open to returning to the Vikings," Nelson Peterson told Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "He hasn't closed the door on saying, 'I won't play for the Vikings.' He hasn't demanded a trade."
This comes on the heels of a report Monday that Peterson's agent, Ben Dogra, and Vikings vice president of football operations, Rob Brzezinski, were involved in a heated exchange at the scouting combine. During the argument, Dogra made it clear Peterson would never again suit up for the Vikings.
Nelson said he wasn't aware of any exchange between Dogra and Brzezinski, but the Pioneer Press has confirmed the argument, which took place Friday at a restaurant in Indianapolis.
Peterson - under contract with the Vikings through 2017 - missed all but one game last season after being indicted for child abuse in Texas. He won't be eligible for reinstatement from his suspension until April 15, though the NFLPA has sued the NFL on Peterson's behalf to be reinstated immediately.
Vikings owner and president Mark Wilf, CEO Kevin Warren and general manager Rick Spielman have all said they'd welcome Peterson back once he's reinstated. However, Nelson said one of the reasons his son is wary about returning to the Vikings is his belief that Warren was pushing to keep him off the field last season.
"Kevin Warren was a major player in the push last year to not have Adrian reinstated," Nelson said. "We had our sources that we knew that Kevin wasn't working for Adrian to get him back on the field and was working to keep Adrian off the field."
Nelson also made it clear his son has nothing against Vikings fans.
"Adrian was referring (in an ESPN.com article) to people that were kicking him when he was down," Nelson said. "It's not the fans of Minnesota. It was people like Kevin Warren and those type of people, the Cris Carter-type of person, those type of people that he felt could have came to him (and) helped him."