Adrian Peterson is going some backtracking. The running back is finding himself in a bit of hot water with Minnesota Vikings fans after a report surfaced saying he wanted to play for the Dallas Cowboys either by trade or in his next stint as a free agent. ESPN's Outside the Lines reported Peterson had already talked with owner Jerry Jones about the possibility. Now, everyone is denying everything.
According to ESPN, Peterson told Jones back in June that he would like to play for the Cowboy when his time was up in Minnesota. Peterson is in the fourth year of a seven-year, $100 million contract. He is set to earn$11.75 million this upcoming season. Jones was coy about the whole thing, downplaying the conversation, but not denying that it happened.
"It was good talking to him," Jones said, via ESPN. "I'm a big admirer of him. We were talking about Texas. I really love his story, especially as to how it relates to his father. That's mostly what we talked about. Certainly, that was about it. It was after the George Strait concert. I think it was about an hour after the concert, so that was the atmosphere."
Per NFL rules, this could be considered player tampering causing Jones to backtrack a bit on the idea that he has already discussed Peterson coming to play for Dallas. Jones is well-aware of tampering fines and claims he did nothing wrong.
"None whatsoever," Jones said. "I understand the tampering thing, and you have to be an initiator."
Peterson is taking the same approach as Jones, claiming this was simply a casual conversation between two people. This is not the first time the idea of Peterson going to the Cowboys has come up. The running back has been a long-time fan of the team and at the start of the 2014 offseason he even hinted at the idea of one day returning to his favorite team. However, right now, the running back claims he is only focused on the 2014 season and that is it.
"This was a casual conversation between NFL colleagues in which I never indicated I wanted to leave the Vikings," Peterson said in a released statement. "I have always said I understand the NFL is a business but that I would love to retire as a Viking."
If Peterson is going to Dallas it will be via a trade. The running back is signed through 2017 so free agency is a long ways away. Dallas has DeMarco Murray holding down the ground game this season and will not be making a trade. However, this is Jerry's World so anything can happen.
