The Vikings insist they will not make a decision on whether Adrian Peterson will play in the season opener against Jacksonville until Sunday morning. But make no mistake, what Peterson is able to show in practice today and Thursday will go a long way towards influencing that decision.
At Wednesday morning's pre-practice press conference at Winter Park, head coach Leslie Frazier confirmed that he was clearing Peterson for full contact, wanting to let him get hit some. Frazier also wants to see how Peterson responds to the contact, both while it's happening and when the day is done.
"We're going to try to give him as much as we can," Frazier said. "We've got a few plays designed for him in practice. And we'll see how he responds and see what he has to say tomorrow when he comes back. But we really want to put him through the paces and just see how he responds."
To be clear, Peterson wasn't be tackled to the ground. So really, it won't be until he takes his first regular season handoff that anyone will know for sure how confident he is in his repaired left knee and how easily he'll be able to react when getting hit.
"What's going to happen on Sunday, we can't simulate in practice at all," Frazier said. "It wouldn't be wise."
So, in truth, no matter what Peterson shows the next two days in practice, eventually the Vikings coaching and medical staffs will have to make a leap of faith to clear him for game action.
Said Frazier: "It will be the same, even if we waited a week from now, three weeks from now, it's hard to simulate a game in practice. It's almost virtually impossible. So it won't necessarily be a leap of faith. It will be based on what our medical staff says, what our coaches see and what Adrian feels as well. We'll try to gather that information and make the right decision."
Other Wednesday notes