The Dallas Cowboys continue to comb through their biggest offseason issue of attempting to retain both Dez Bryant DeMarco Murray for the long-term. Both offensive stars were x-factors in their own right in 2014 and the Cowboys are aware they really cannot afford to let either player go. However, they might not be able to afford to retain both players either. Now, Adrian Peterson is throwing a curveball into the Cowboys' plans by reportedly requesting a trade to the team from the Minnesota Vikings.
The Cowboys and Peterson have been linked together for the better part of a year. The running back is a Dallas fan and ESPN reported before the 2014 season that Peterson had called Jerry Jones and made it clear he ideally wants to play for the Cowboys at some point in his career. According to a new report from Bleacher Report, Peterson has requested a trade to the Cowboys after he gets reinstated into the NFL. This would contradict what Peterson has been saying in the media. The running back has maintained that he plans on returning to the Vikings. Josina Anderson of ESPN reports that Peterson has not requested a trade from Minnesota to the Cowboys and the running back has not had any conversations about moving on from the team with general manager Rick Spielman.
It is pure speculation at this point what Peterson plans on doing. The running back is a heavy salary cap hit in 2015 which hurts his status in the league regardless. The Vikings had already been thinking of trading the running back in order to get the cap relief while the Cowboys cannot afford to take on his contract at its current cost. Peterson lacks leverage when it comes to deciding where he will play because his contract makes things tough for the running back to move.
For now, the Cowboys must determine what their commitment is to Murray. The running back has already rejected one contract offer from the Cowboys, but has said that he would ideally like to remain in Dallas for the long-term. Jones told ESPNDallas.com that if Murray does return to the team in 2015, his role could be smaller than it was last season.
"I don't think we would go into a season now with Murray thinking that he was going to have the load that he had last year," Jones said, via ESPNDallas.com. "I don't believe we would. Murray is such a warrior and Murray is such a horse, he'd actually get upset if you took him out of the game. But it was (not) the thing to do for Murray to let those guys have more touches. Now, why did we go along with it? We just happened to be doing you know what? Winning. We were very successful so it's hard to make that change."
Those comments likely will not please Murray who still views himself as a starter and premier back for any team. If Murray hits the market, there will be plenty of teams willing to let him be that back while earning the money deserving of the role.
