Vikings to Peterson: Curb your enthusiasm

Adrian Peterson won’t start running on land on Feb. 28, as he previously said. The Vikings say he’s progressing well from knee surgery, but that’s pushing the protocol too much, coach Leslie Frazier said.

The Minnesota Vikings are trying to curb the competitiveness of Adrian Peterson when it comes to his rehabilitation from surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

Peterson told KFAN last week he wanted to start running again on Feb. 28. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier talked to Peterson on Thursday and had a message for him.

“He feels like he’s ahead of schedule, but we do have to temper his emotions at times. We talked about that yesterday,” Frazier said Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “He’s doing well. He’s doing very well.”

The star running back, who leads the NFL with 6,752 rushing yards and 64 touchdowns since entering the league in 2007, will have to go through the normal protocol for recovery from ACL surgery. That means he will start running in the pool before doing anything on land.

“He’s got to just listen to what the doctors are telling him and the rehab specialists and go at their pace,” Frazier said.

“… There are steps that you take before you actually start running and he’s got to go through those steps.”

Peterson remains in Houston going through his rehab, but Vikings officials continue to keep in touch with him and the medical people on site.

“We’ll see how he’s doing and how he’s responding and what does in the pool before he actually begins to do some hard surface running,” Frazier said. “In his mind, he’s just about ready to go out and run sprints right now. He’s not ready for that.”

Peterson had surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 30. Last month, the Vikings were more concerned about his enthusiasm to push the timeline on recovery. Now, Frazier said, he understands the protocol better.

“Early on, I was really concerned, maybe the first two or three weeks, but he’s begun to understand that he’s got to listen to the doctors, with the pace that they expect him to, and not try to force this because he could do more damage than he realizes,” Frazier said. “So he’s understanding now the importance following protocol and letting things play out the way they should. Early on it was a concern.”

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