Adrian Peterson wants to play for a contending team, and typically when veteran players make that their top priority they end up having to take less money to make it happen. For the New England Patriots, Peterson would apparently consider doing that.
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald reports that Peterson would be willing to think about signing a team-friendly deal with the Patriots for a shot at capturing a Super Bowl ring. The 31-year-old has already made nearly $100 million in his NFL career, and he knows he is not going to be the highest-paid running back in the NFL now that the Minnesota Vikings are releasing him.
Peterson knows guys like Darrelle Revis and defensive end Chris Long have taken less money to sign with the Patriots and are now champions because of it. With LeGarrette Blount also set to become a free agent, the timing could be right if Peterson is willing to sign a reasonable contract, but how reasonable would he need to be?
As Guregian notes, the Patriots typically like to pay running backs around $2 million per season. Peterson could surely get much more than that from another team, so it remains to be seen how badly he wants to play alongside the best quarterback and under the best coach in football.
For what it’s worth, a separate report indicated Peterson is actually not getting much interest from teams because he wants too much money. Even a running back-needy team that he tweeted about is likely going to look elsewhere for backfield help. It’s tough to imagine A.P. going low enough with his contract demands to wind up in Foxboro.
