What It Means:

The Vikings can't afford to keep Peterson at his current performance level, and a release seems more likely than a restructured contract. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported last week that multiple general managers aren't interested in paying Peterson $5 million annually as he enters what will be his age-32 campaign, so there may not be too much demand on the open market for the future Hall of Famer.

There were 88 running backs to notch at least 30 rushing attempts last year. Peterson earned -0.39 Rushing Net Expected Points per attempt, by far the worst rate among that group.