Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived

As a Packers fan, do you want to see this Adrian Peterson drama carry over into training camp and the regular season? Or would you rather see the Vikings cut or trade Peterson?

We’ve seen firsthand in Green Bay how a superstar player going off the rails can cause a distraction and impact the entire team. It’d be nice to see Peterson do that in Minnesota, but as a Packers fan I’d much rather see the Vikings get rid of him.

Peterson is the sole reason that the Packers don’t beat the Vikings by four touchdowns every time they play. Peterson is successful against every team he plays, but against the Packers he rushes for 118 yards per game and has scored 11 touchdowns. Peterson on a different team or Peterson sitting at home on his couch in early retirement is much more preferable to watching Peterson plow through the Packers’ defense, no matter how angry Peterson might be at his own team or the state of NFL contracts.

As much as I’d like to see Peterson not wearing a purple jersey this season, it won’t happen. As asinine as it might seem in Peterson’s case, this is what NFL players do when they’re trying to gain some financial leverage. Peterson knows he’s a 30-year-old running back coming off a child abuse charge. He wants more of his salary in future years guaranteed.

I don’t think Peterson is going to win this battle, but apparently he thinks it’s one worth fighting.

When the dust settles and the tweets become slightly less insane, Peterson will remain a Viking and will probably add to his gaudy numbers against the Packers.

Packers News, Notes and Links

  • Good on the Packers for continuing to use Clay Matthews at inside linebacker and good on Matthews for embracing the role. At least that’s my take after a week of OTAs. Matthews has the versatility to be a bigger, whiter, longer-haired Charles Woodson type of player along the front seven. He good enough to do more than just crash into tackles over and over again from the outside. I’m looking forward to seeing what Matthews does from different positions all over the field.
  • Jordy Nelson says he feels fine after offseason hip surgery. Jordy seems like an honest guy, so I believe him. But hip injuries are always worrisome. In Nelson’s case, his production tailed off down the stretch last season. Hopefully the surgery corrected whatever was ailing him.
  • Jared Abbrederis and Don Barclay returned to the field during OTAs, less than a year after each suffered ACL injuries. I’ll be pulling hard for Abbrederis, but if the receiving corp remains healthy, I think it might be tough for him to make the team.
  • Eddie Lacy is ESPN’s top fantasy football running back. As long as I don’t draft him, expect Lacy to have another big year.
  • Friend of ALLGBP.com Brian Carriveau is absolutely killing it with his Packers coverage at 247sports.com. If you haven’t read Brian at his new gig yet, check it out.

Non Packers links and other Nonsense