Adrian Peterson Won’t Play In Preseason After All

Well, that speculation was certainly short-lived.

Just a day after Minnesota Vikings’ head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters that he wasn’t going to say whether or not running back Adrian Peterson would see any action in the third preseason game against the San Diego Chargers, Peterson decided to give the Chargers a huge competitive advantage by making the declaration for him.

The NFL’s reigning rushing leader, who has not logged a carry in the preseason since 2011, will not be taking the field this preseason either.

"Ultimately, he wasn't going to force me to go out there and play," Peterson said. "I've been doing it for a long time. He trusts me, we trust each other. He understood."

After the conclusion of the Vikings’ 2015 season, Peterson said that he was going to spend this offseason attempting to become more versatile, including working on running the ball from the shotgun formation. According to Ben Goessling of ESPN, Peterson had 32 carries from the shotgun last season, plus five more from the “pistol” formation, but only 19 of those carries came after Week 2. If he’s been working on it this offseason, we’re going to have to wait until Week 1 of the regular season to see if the work has the desired effect.

Speaking of players sitting out, it doesn’t appear that the Vikings will have cornerback Xavier Rhodes on Sunday against the Chargers, either. Rhodes tweaked his hamstring in the game against the Seattle Seahawks, and has been sitting out of recent practices. It doesn’t sound like a decision has been made on the status of left tackle Matt Kalil for Sunday, but if anything comes out we will have it here for you.