The NFL ruled today that Vikings RB Adrian Peterson would be suspended without pay for the rest of the 2014 season in light of Peterson accepting a plea deal for his child abuse charge. Peterson was originally on the player’s exempt list. Even though he participated in no activities with the Vikings, he was still being paid.
Peterson’s teammate CaptainMunnerlyn is speaking out, and he says he doesn’t agree with the NFL’s decision to suspend Peterson.
“I don’t agree with it,’’ Munnerlyn said of the ruling. “But at the same time it’s the NFL and they came up with the ruling and we have to live with it. It’s tough news for the Vikings and to the organization and especially to his teammates.
“I thought they probably would have fined him because he had already missed nine games and I thought that would have been enough of a penalty. I felt like Adrian would have come back and played the final six games for free. He so wanted to play football. I think that suspending him for the rest of the year was kind of steep.’’
Mannerlyn says that one of the main reasons he signed with the Vikings in March of this year was that he wanted to play on the same team as Peterson. Now he won’t know if, or when, that will ever happen. He’s also backing his support for the NFL to allow Peterson to play next season, and says he knows that Peterson didn’t mean to hurt his son.
“At least we know now we’re not going to have him,’’ Munnerlyn said. “At least now it’s not like every week we’re wondering if we might have Adrian back. Now we got to move on. The rookie running back (Jerick McKinnon) is playing well. We just got to go win some football games.’’
“He knows he made a mistake, but at the end of the day he was doing it the way he was raised and he wasn’t thinking about how society was going to look at it,’’ Munnerlyn said. “I know Adrian didn’t try to hurt his son at all. He’s not that type of guy. But they came down harsh on him. I just wish the best for Adrian. Hopefully, we’re going to get him back next year.’’
Maybe a video of the incident would change Munnelyn’s mind.
[h/t TwinCities.com]