Back in September, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson came under fire for spanking his four-year-old son so severely that prosecutors in Montgomery County, Texas called it a crime. On Tuesday, Peterson reached a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault. He thought this would be enough to return to the field after what amounted to a two-month paid leave of absence. However, the NFL turned down Peterson’s request for immediate reinstatement, saying that it was conducting its own review of the situation under the league’s personal conduct policy. That wasn’t good enough for the NFL Players Association. On Friday, it sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell demanding Peterson’s immediate reinstatement.
The NFL wants Peterson to send it all evidence from the court case so it can review the matter. It also wants Peterson to meet with Goodell prior to a final decision being made.?According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter,?it will be sometime into this upcoming week before that review is complete. The NFLPA contends that this case is no different from any other case of player discipline, and that Peterson should be allowed to play while the review is underway. Since September, Peterson has been on the?commissioner’s exempt list, which is designed to give?players time to deal with significant off-field situations. According to ESPN, the agreement between Peterson and the league explicitly states that Peterson would?be removed from the list?once his legal issues were resolved. It doesn’t look like there is much leeway for the NFL to keep Peterson on the list as a result of the plea deal.
That being said, Peterson is sending the wrong message by pushing so hard to get back on the field. While I don’t believe in spanking, I was initially skeptical about whether this case belonged in court. But?if you look at?the boy’s injuries, the only conclusion that you can draw is that a line was crossed. As much as Peterson?claims that he never intended to harm his son, looking at those pictures it’s hard not to wonder if something like this will happen again a few years down the road. His focus should be on getting counseling and anger management, not football. And if he doesn’t understand that on his own, somebody in his inner circle ought to impress that on him. I have to hope that while the NFLPA is publicly trumpeting his rights, someone?with the NFLPA is telling?him privately that it’s better for him to lose this season rather than risk losing his career and reputation–and possibly his freedom–later on.?To my mind, while Peterson has every right to seek his reinstatement, that doesn’t mean he?should.
I’m also troubled by the Vikings’ stance on this. According to ESPN, most of the Vikings players, as well as coach Leslie Frazier and his staff and most of the football operations executives, are more than willing to take Peterson back if he’s reinstated. Apparently the Vikings forgot about?the backlash that ensued after their initial mishandling of the situation.?After Peterson sat out the second game of the season, the Vikings initially announced he would come back for the third game and keep playing while the legal process played out. However, amid?prime sponsor?Radisson suspending its ties with the team, Nike pulling Peterson’s jerseys from Twin Cities stores, and near-unanimous condemnation from the fans, the Vikings were all but forced to ask for permission to put Peterson on the exempt list. When Vikings owner Zygi Wilf?announced that Peterson would be sidelined pending resolution of this case, he admitted that his team screwed this up eight ways to Sunday and “needed to get this right.”?If the stances of the players and coaches are any indication, apparently they missed that memo.
When Peterson was indicted, Michael Eric Dyson wrote an op-ed in The New York Times saying that this incident was proof that the black community needs a major rethink on how it disciplines kids. Peterson has a chance to?help start?that rethink by saying, “I’m not playing again this season.” Maybe he doesn’t understand that on his own, but hopefully someone in the NFLPA is privately telling him that it’s a decision he needs to make even as it’s publicly lobbying for him to be reinstated to the league.
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