Will Adrian Peterson’s Trade Affect The Vikings’ 2018 Draft?

In case you haven’t seen it yet, word is swirling around social media that the Adrian Peterson experiment in New Orleans is over after just five weeks. Numerous sources are reporting that the Saints have agreed to trade Peterson to the Arizona Cardinals for an undisclosed, conditional draft choice.

Now, while this trade won’t directly affect the Vikings this season. . .barring an unlikely post-season meeting, the Vikings don’t play the Cardinals and they have already beaten the Saints. . .it could potentially affect the Vikings’ 2018 NFL Draft position.

According to the folks from Over the Cap, the Vikings are currently projected to receive two compensatory selections in the 2018 Draft, including one for Peterson. (They are also currently forecast to receive one for the loss of receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.) From what I can gather from asking the OTC folks on the Twitters, as well as from their site, it’s quite possible that it could.

Here’s what OTC’s explanation of compensatory picks has on it as far as qualifying for the compensatory pick equation:

In order to qualify for the comp equation, a player must have been a true Unrestricted Free Agent whose contract had expired or was voided after the previous season (i.e., he cannot have been released by his old team); he must sign during the UFA signing period (which ended July 27 last year); if he signs after June 1[*], he must have been tendered a June 1 qualifying offer by his old team; his compensatory value or contract value must be above a specific minimum amount; and he cannot have been permanently released by his new team before a certain point in the season (which seems to be after Week 10) or, possibly, before getting a certain amount of playing time, unless he was claimed off waivers by another team.

In addition, here is a series of tweets that OTC’s Nick Korte just fired off to give some clarification on the matter.

So, while the trade itself might not play a role in the Vikings’ receiving a pick for the loss of Peterson, there are a few things that could play a role:

1. The fact that Peterson’s contract was shortened by a contract void rather than just running out
2. The fact that Peterson has done exactly jack squat for the Saints through five weeks (thus far he has 27 carries for 81 yards and no touchdowns)
3. The potential for the Cardinals to release Peterson before Week 10 of the season

So, it appears that Vikings fans, at the very least, need to hope for Peterson to stick with the Cardinals for the rest of the season, or at least until this Week 10 cutoff that OTC is citing.

If we get any further clarification on this, we will pass it along to you. For now, it appears that the Vikings getting an extra pick for losing Adrian Peterson this offseason is still the case, but that could be subject to change.