The 2014 NFL betting season has characterized itself for all its surprising announcements and events, but in a rather unexpected twist of events, the Minnesota Viking recanted last Sunday’s decision to deactivate Adrian Peterson and announced on Monday that the player will be back to practice and is likely to feature in Sunday’s NFL game against the New Orleans Saints.
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The ace running back was suspended after Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots when news emerged that Peterson had been indicted on Friday on the charges negligent or reckless injury to a child. Speaking about the decision to activate the player, general manager Rick Spielman said “Based on the extensive information that we have right now and what we know about Adrian, not only as a person, but what he has also done for this community, we believe he deserves to play while the legal process plays out. At the same time, we must defer to the legal system to determine whether he went too far. But we cannot make that judgment.” However, the general manager strongly reiterated that the decision to activate Peterson did not, in any way, mean that the Vikings supported the off-field actions of the player. “When you look at the photos, they’re disturbing”, the GM said. For this reason, and for the sake of letting the legal process take its due course, “I want to take time to emphasize that the issue of child welfare is extremely serious and should be taken serious not only by us, but by everybody. We are trying to do the right thing, this is a difficult path to navigate regarding the judgment of how a parent disciplines his child”, added Spielman. When asked about the reason the team decided to deactivate Peterson in the first place, Spielman said the team did not initially have all the information related to the case and made the hasty decision in the best interest of the team. However, after receiving all the court files, the organization felt that, even though they do not condone Peterson’s actions, it was best to reinstate him in the team since his off-field behavior “has nothing on him as a football player”.
