Report: Vikings General Counsel Worked To Keep Adrian Peterson Off The Field

Lost in the lead up to the Minnesota Vikings' 24-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday was a story about the ongoing situation with Adrian Peterson. It came from ESPN's Adam Schefter through his FaceBook page, and addresses something that Peterson said in his interview with Tom Pelissero in USA Today. In that interview, there was a bit where Peterson talked about some members of the organization not wanting him back with the team.

Unlike Peterson, Schefter named names. . .well, one name, anyway.

When Adrian Peterson told USA Today there were people in Vikings' organization who did want him back and people in the organization who didn't, the person he was referring to who wasn't in favor of his return was the team's general counsel, Kevin Warren, per league sources. Warren and the NFL have been working to make sure Peterson did not return this season, per sources familiar with the case. Now there are questions about whether Peterson will return to Minnesota at all next season. There were those in the Vikings organization who were, and still are, in favor of Peterson's return, including the coaches, front office and players. But per sources, Peterson believes at least one individual didn't want him back.

Check out the passage in bold there. I'm not a brilliant legal mind or anything, but from my perspective, that makes less sense than a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk choosing to live on the planet Endor with a bunch of Ewoks. That does not. . .make. . .sense.

Everything from the Vikings' side of things thus far has said that the Wilfs have been trying to get Peterson back on the field this year. (ESPN's Ed Werder reported as much not long before this story came out.) The coaching staff wants him back. Peterson's teammates want him back. Hell, at this point I want him back, though that may be just as much for my desire to hear Viking haters cry and throw a fit about it than anything else.

If this report is true. . .and I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that it isn't. . .I just don't understand why this one individual would seemingly go against the wishes of pretty much everybody in the organization. To hear it from Mike Florio, it appears that someone decided back in September that Peterson wasn't going to play this season, and the fact that Roger Goodell and the National Football League have been completely making things up as they go along has been a means to that end.

Either way, it appears as though we may have an answer as to who has been playing a role in keeping Adrian Peterson off the field this season. We'll have to see if any sort of a denial comes out sometime this week.