General Manager Rick Spielman said this morning at the University of Minnesota's pro day that the Vikings have spoken to running back Adrian Peterson since last Thursday and that they plan to continue to have an "open dialogue" with Peterson while he is on the commissioner's exempt list.
"We are able to have communication now with Adrian," Spielman said. "We'll keep all those communications internal. I don't want to give you guys a blow-by-blow [account] every day. I think it's been very clearly stated that we want to have Adrian Peterson back. There's no question about the talent. He's a unique talent and he's under contract with us next year."
The Vikings were only allowed to speak with Peterson through their legal team while he was serving his NFL suspension. But last Thursday, the league placed Peterson on the exempt list after a federal judge overturned an NFL arbitrator's ruling on Peterson's appeal of his suspension. Per league rules, the Vikings can now speak with Peterson, something Spielman called "beneficial."
Spielman was asked about Peterson's comment two weeks ago about feeling "uneasy" about potentially returning to the Vikings and whether there is a "rift" between the player and the team.
"I'm not going to get into anything on that front," said Spielman, who later added, "I can tell you that we're going to have and we have open communication with him and we'll just leave all those discussions between us and Adrian."
