The Minnesota Vikings may look at an Adrian Peterson trade in the future after his legal issues are over and the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins or Oakland Raiders could be potential options for his services, as the Vikings have been pleased with how Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata have stepped in and they have been solid replacements for fantasy owners this year.
The trade rumors about Peterson have been popping up since last season, but now that his legal issues have taken him off the field, the Vikings may look at making a move in the future. If a trade goes down it wouldn't be at the trading deadline this season and there is also a chance that the Vikings release Peterson if the team can't find a deal. According to ESPN.com writer Chris Mortenson, the Vikings do not see Peterson in their future plans and the fact that he could also be suspended even if he is found not guilty also adds into things.
Last year trade rumors came up because the Vikings were having a bad season and Peterson has a massive contract and his deal is another reason why the Vikings may look at a trade. According to Mike Freeman from Bleacher Report, the Vikings and Peterson could be headed for a split after this season, as his cap hit goes up next year quite a bit and since he is an aging back his production likely will be going down. Freeman wrote about the split after the NFL draft and that was before the team learned about all of Peterson's legal issues and child abuse problems.
Peterson has a massive contract and as he gets to the age of 30 the Vikings may want to make a clean break from AP after all his legal issues are resolved. Once running backs hit that age their production goes way down and while he is a franchise star, Peterson is making a ridiculous amount of money and his contract goes through until 2018. The dead money on his deal is $2.4 million after being at $5 million this season and if the team released Peterson, they may wait for that.
McKinnon has had a very solid season for the Vikings and through eight games he has 392 yards and he also is averaging over five yards per carry. McKinnon has taken over as the starting back over Asiata and while no one will confuse him for Peterson, he is making a fraction of what Peterson is and he could be the RB of the future for the team. Asiata has also played well and he has 251 rushing yards on the season in eight games.
The cap hit for Peterson right now is $14 million and that is a ton for a player on the sidelines. Over the next two seasons the hit is about $15 million and in the final season he makes a base salary of $16 million and his cap hit is $17 million. The Cowboys are mentioned after the Jerry Jones/OTL story from the summer when the owner said he had interest in bringing Peterson down to Dallas, but that was before the allegations went public about Peterson and of course DeMarco Murray is having an MVP season as well.
