INDIANAPOLIS — The Vikings went 7-9 last year with a rookie quarterback and without their best offensive player. Adrian Peterson was suspended one game into the NFL season following a child abuse indictment last September.
Now Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman wants the star running back to return to Minnesota.
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"Adrian Peterson is under contract with us," Spielman said Wednesday afternoon at the NFL Scouting Combine. "He's a very unique football player. I'm sure Adrian's doing everything he can do off the field. He made a mistakes, he admitted a mistake and I'm sure Adrian is doing everything he can to make himself better as a football player, but also a better person off the field. That's the type of person Adrian is. He's a suspended player right now, and we'll see where it goes from there.
"But there is no question that I don't think any team in the NFL wouldn't want an Adrian Peterson-caliber running back on their football team."
Peterson is a six-time Pro Bowl selection and was the 2012 NFL MVP and rookie of the year after the Vikings took him with the seventh overall pick in 2007.