Sep 11, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) runs for a short gain against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. The Vikings won 25-16. Photo Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Free agent running back Adrian Peterson is close to agreeing to a deal with the New Orleans Saints, according to published reports on Monday.
Citing two league sources, the Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported that a deal is near for Peterson, who visited the Saints two weeks ago.
The NFL Network reported that the sides are close to an agreement and that Peterson would receive more than $3 million to play next season.
Peterson, who turned 32 last month, left the Minnesota Vikings as one of the best players in franchise history. He was released on March 9 after the team declined the 2017 option on his contract.
The four-time All-Pro had seven 1,000-yard rushing seasons in nine years, including the second-best total in NFL history with 2,097 yards in 2012, but battled injuries the last few seasons.
Peterson also led the NFL in rushing in 2015 with 1,485 yards, along with 11 touchdowns. He has 11,747 career rushing yards with 97 touchdowns in 10 seasons — 16th on the NFL’s all-time list. He is 565 yards behind Jim Brown for 10th place.
The former Oklahoma standout and No. 7 overall pick of the Vikings in the 2007 draft missed all but three games in 2016 after undergoing right knee surgery in September. Peterson totaled 72 yards on 37 carries.
–Former No. 1 pick Jake Long announced his NFL retirement after nine injury-plagued seasons.
The left tackle, the first overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, played only four games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2016 before he suffered a torn Achilles on Nov. 13 to end his season.
“As I continue with my recent rehab,” Long wrote in his statement posted on Twitter, “I realize that although my heart and mind still want to play, my body is telling me something completely different.”
The Vikings signed Long last October after they had lost tackles Matt Kalil and Andre Smith to season-ending injuries. Long, who turns 32 next month, was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons (2008-11) in the league before multiple injuries piled up. He last played more than 10 games in a season in 2013, when he started 15 games for the then-St. Louis Rams.
–General manager John Schneider says the Seattle Seahawks will continue to listen to offers for cornerback Richard Sherman, but the team has “moved past” the idea of trading the four-time Pro Bowl selection.
Sherman was back at the Seahawks’ facility to take part in the offseason program after sitting out last week.
“Right now we have kind of moved past it,” Schneider said of Sherman during a press conference to preview the NFL Draft, which will be held Thursday through Saturday in Philadelphia. “And if somebody calls and goes crazy with something, then we’ll discuss it again.”
Sherman met with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll last week amid the developing trade-talk stories. The 29-year-old Sherman, who has two years remaining on his contract, is due to earn $11.43 million in 2017 and $11 million in 2018.
–The New England Patriots appear unlikely to trade cornerback Malcolm Butler this offseason.
Butler, who was a restricted free agent, could not be traded until he signed the $3.91 million tender last week for the 2017 season. He visited with just one team, the New Orleans Saints, during free agency.
Peter King of TheMMQB.com reported that the Saints still have interest in the cornerback but “the thought of dealing one or more picks for Butler, then paying him a huge contract, is less attractive than it once seemed.”
The Saints have picks 11, 32, 42, 76 and 103 in the first three rounds of the 2017 draft, which will be held Thursday through Saturday in Philadelphia. Butler previously did not sign his tender in hopes that another NFL team might sign him to an offer sheet before last Friday’s deadline.
–Running back Mike Gillislee signed with the Patriots after the Buffalo Bills decided not to match the two-year contract offer.
Gillislee received a fifth-round tender as a restricted free agent, and the Bills will receive the Patriots’ pick in that round of the NFL draft, No. 163 overall.
A fifth-round pick in 2013, Gillislee rushed for 577 yards and eight touchdowns on 101 carries last season as LeSean McCoy’s backup in Buffalo.
Gillislee is the latest change in the backfield for the Patriots as LeGarrette Blount, who led the NFL with 18 touchdowns, remains an unrestricted free agent. The Patriots also signed running back Rex Burkhead, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals, in March. They also return Dion Lewis and James White at the position.
–In what hardly rates as a surprise, the New York Giants are planning to pick up the fifth-year option on star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., multiple media outlets reported.
New York has until May 3 to pick up the option on Beckham’s rookie contract, a move considered procedural given that failing to do so would allow Beckham to become an unrestricted free agent in 2018.
“Of course we will,” SportsNet New York quoted a team source as to the plans to keep Beckham in the fold.
Beckham has hauled in double-digit touchdowns and eclipsed 1,300 yards in each of his first three seasons, but the former first-round pick (No. 12 overall) has drawn the ire of management for a lack of discipline on the field.
–The San Francisco 49ers are “still strongly considering” taking a quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick in this week’s NFL Draft.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network also reported the 49ers have done “extensive homework” on the draft’s top quarterbacks, highlighted by North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.
According to the report, the 49ers taking a quarterback would be somewhat of a surprise, considering they signed presumptive starter Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley in the offseason — and they have Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins potentially as an option for 2018.
The 2017 draft will be the first under the 49ers’ new regime of general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan.
–General manager Thomas Dimitroff said the Atlanta Falcons “aren’t looking for angels” in this week’s NFL Draft but at the same time indicated Joe Mixon is off their draft board.
“Of course, I’ve said this time and again: We aren’t looking for angels,” Dimitroff told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of players in the draft, which will be held Thursday through Saturday in Philadelphia. “We are looking for guys who are real. We are looking for guys who ultimately will fit into the brotherhood. … We are particular about looking at the character situation and how they fit. It’s a big thing, of course.”
The Falcons have the 31st pick in the first round.
Mixon, the former Oklahoma running back who was involved in a highly publicized domestic violence case, is not on the team’s draft board, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.
–The family of former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will gain access to three handwritten notes that the player allegedly wrote before he killed himself, a lawyer for the family said.
Attorney George Leontire told reporters early Monday afternoon that a Bristol Superior Court judge in New Bedford, Mass., ordered the release of the notes to the family, the Boston Globe reported.
The legal action came minutes before funeral services were scheduled to begin for Hernandez in Bristol, Conn.
As part of his motion, Leontire said Hernandez’s family deserved “know their loved one’s final thoughts” and termed it a necessary part of the “grieving process.”
–The Washington Redskins re-signed restricted free agent linebacker Will Compton to his tender contract.
Compton’s deal for the 2017 season is worth $1.8 million, according to ESPN. Compton, 27, was voted the team’s defensive captain prior to last season.
The 6-foot-1, 238-pound Compton registered a career-high 104 tackles (60 solo) in 2016 — his third full season with the Redskins. He had five passes defensed, two fumble recoveries and one interception while starting 15 games.
An undrafted free agent out of Nebraska, Compton appeared in one game with Washington in 2013 but has missed just one game over the past three seasons.
