A couple of weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings announced Adrian Peterson’s induction into the franchise’s Ring of Honor. He spent a decade with the club and, in some instances, carried the offense for entire seasons.

Peterson revealed that tension with Zimmer escalated after the star running back attempted a late-season return from a major knee injury in 2016.

In his final three seasons with the organization, Peterson played under head coach Mike Zimmer, who was eventually fired after the 2021 season. It turns out Zimmer and Peterson didn’t particularly like each other, the runner revealed in an appearance on the Ed Block CourageCast podcast.

The back’s time in the Twin Cities ended when the franchise didn’t pick up an option in his contract, which sent him to free agency. He then bounced around for a few years.

Peterson said, “The reason I say this — and a lot of people know the inside of things that go on — but, for me, when I left, me and the head coach kind of bumped heads a little bit. Because I just felt disrespected. So, for me, when I look back at it, I think I could have — I know I could have — handled it a different way, and maybe that doesn’t happen. Maybe they don’t go shopping, trying to find someone else. So, I wasn’t shocked when it ended up happening.”

After moving on, the Vikings paired Peterson’s backup, Jerick McKinnon, with free agent Latavius Murray and rookie second-rounder Dalvin Cook. They formed one of the strongest backfields in the NFL, though they only had four games together until Cook tore his ACL in Week 4.

Peterson didn’t have a problem with the Vikings, but Zimmer certainly irritated him, “Honestly, just leaving there, I felt disrespected by the head coach in particular. Not the organization or anything like that. It was the head coach. Me and him had a few words, respectfully.”

At the time, the Vikings would’ve owed Peterson $18 million, had they exercised his option. He turned 32 in the 2017 offseason. That salary would make him the third-highest paid runner in today’s league, behind Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey. Mind you, the salary cap nine years ago was roughly half of today’s, and only a pair of backs in 2017 made more than $7 million that year.

Peterson came off a season in which he suited up only three times. He registered 72 rushing yards in 2016, as a torn meniscus sidelined him for most of the year. That’s when his feud with Zimmer started.

The future Hall of Famer explained, “I tore like 90% of my meniscus. My options were to do the repair, and it was a 40% chance that it wouldn’t heal. Or I could cut it out and go through the healing process, and at some point I would be bone-on-bone.”

“So, that happened and I opt to have the surgery and to do the repair. It was that game plan that I envisioned, and I wasn’t really listening to what everybody else had to say about it, outside of the professionals’ opinions, as far as my options. But, as far as the healing process, I think totally different. So, I’m just like, ‘You know what? I can come back, man.’ Normally, typically, that would end somebody’s season, and I was like, ‘I can come back.’”

Vikings fans might remember some meniscus anatomy from the J.J. McCarthy saga in 2024. In short, there are two options: the so-called trim and the repair. The former costs a few weeks or a month, the latter generally ends the season. Anthony Barr, early in his career, did the trim, while Irv Smith or McCarthy did the repair. The shorter recovery time is a trade-off that comes with potential long-term risks.

Peterson suffered his knee injury in Week 2, which is why he thought he could fix his meniscus and still return that season because, well, he was a player who had previously shown that he heals differently than most humans.

The 2012 MVP returned in Week 15, a must-win game against the Colts. It turned out to be a blowout loss and Peterson logged 22 yards that day. After the game, with nothing to play for, the Vikings shut down Peterson for the remainder of the season, which Zimmer didn’t like.

Peterson continued, “During that time that I came back, I want to say we had a home game against the Colts, and it was a situation where if we win that game, we had a chance to win out and go to the playoffs. So, here I am at the time, this is the last year of my contract. I could have easily sat it out and seen what would happen going into the next season. That’s what I could have done. But, me being the type of person that I am, the competitor that I am, I’m all for it. I want to get out there and I want to play.”

“So, I got out there and went through it, and we end up losing the game. We end up losing the game and I think we had a zero percent chance of making (the playoffs). At this point, it’s time for me to shut it down. It was time for me to go ahead and rest and see what happens next year. Coach (Zimmer), it rubbed him the wrong way that I made that decision. That’s where we had a couple words. He said some things that was disrespectful, challenging me as far as being a competitor, and just my whole being.”

The 8-8 Vikings didn’t make the playoffs after starting 5-0. Peterson’s final campaign in purple didn’t go according to plan. Under Zimmer, his league-leading rushing season in 2015 (1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns, both of which led the league) was sandwiched between two lost years. He was suspended for all but one contest in 2014 and played only three games in 2016.

Unfortunately, they had only one full season together. Zimmer’s run-first idea of playing offense would’ve meshed well with the explosiveness Peterson displayed throughout his career when healthy. Though he overall had a respectable tenure in Minnesota with a 72-56-1 record, the way he led the team and treated people within the building was not always appreciated by everyone.

“But, you know, it is what it is. Everything happens for a reason. I went on and played a couple more years. Blessed to be a part of some other great organizations. My kids were able to travel and see the world,” Peterson concluded.

Peterson spent ten years with the Vikings, leading the franchise in rushing yards and touchdowns by a wide margin. After his exit, he played in New Orleans, Arizona, Washington, Detroit, Tennessee, and Seattle.

Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.

Janik Eckardt is a German sports nerd, who likes numbers and stats. He chose the Vikings to be his … More about Janik Eckardt