PHOENIX -- Mike Zimmer thinks that Adrian Peterson will enter the Hall of Fame wearing purple and gold.
He has also not wavered one bit on the feeling that the Vikings running back is coming back to Minnesota next season despite a bustling week at the annual meetings, which featured some clamorous statements from the running back's agent.
"I'm not going to speculate on what he wants or doesn't want," Zimmer said Wednesday morning at the NFL Annual Meeting. "He's under contract for three more years with us and that's why you sign these contracts, and why you get these big bonuses."
While Zimmer does sound a little tone deaf on the contract situation -- players are frequently cut and discarded before their deals are up -- he has little to work with at this point.
The Vikings could trade the face of their franchise or watch the situation spiral into the next phase.
But Zimmer shot down any trade rumors on Wednesday as well.
"We're planning on him being back," he said. "We have no plans to trade Adrian."
Zimmer admitted that privately there's been talks in the Vikings' facility about what could have been last year. He admits that, even as he prepares for the season, conversation surrounding Peterson's next move dominates his schedule.
"It's status quo as we go on," Zimmer said. "I appreciate everything Adrian has done in the state, in the community and in the Twin Cities. We know what kind of running back he is, what kind of benefit he'd be to our team and community. I think when he goes into the Hall of Fame he's going to want to go in wearing the jersey everyone remembers him in."
The next step, he said, is hearing from the league on Peterson's status. That is still unclear.
So it goes for Zimmer where nothing is incredibly clear. He's found himself posturing to a player who got himself booted off the team last season and is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
In the meantime, he'll wait for an answer.
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