Peterson Needs Surgery?

Just when it looked like the Vikings might be locked in on RB Adrian Peterson, reports are surfacing that he is injured -- perhaps to the extent that he will need surgery and miss the offseason program and even potentially part or all of training camp.

Just when you thought it was a safe pick to take Adrian Peterson, the water gets a little muddy.

Reports coming out Wednesday say that Peterson re-injured his collarbone during the Fiesta Bowl and, for the team that drafts him, he will likely be unavailable for minicamps and off-season workouts. It is also being rumored that the collarbone might require surgery. While the injury (or re-injury) came almost four months ago, it could be a blow to his draft stock.

That being said, collarbone injuries aren’t the type of injuries that typically scare away teams like they would have apprehension if the injury was to a knee or serious ankle problem. While it may be enough to tip the scales for the Browns to go with Brady Quinn at No. 3, it likely won’t be enough to make the Vikings bow out at No. 7 if he’s the top player on their board…or for a team like Buffalo or Green Bay to make a run at him at No. 6 in a trade with the draft-pick-starved Redskins.

THURSDAY NOTES
* From the “And a Precinct Heard From Department” comes this: Just as Vikings fans have become convinced that the seventh pick will likely come down to whether Peterson or Quinn is available, VU took part in a correspondents’ mock draft in which beat writers make the picks for their respective teams. In this scenario, both Quinn and Peterson were available. The picks (no trades were allowed) went as follows – JaMarcus Russell to the Raiders, Gaines Adams to the Lions, Calvin Johnson to the Browns, Joe Thomas to the Bucs, Levi Brown to the Cardinals and LaRon Landry to the Redskins. In fact, the Redskins beat writer said if the team was stuck at No. 6 with no other selection, they might go for DT Amobi Okoye, which would mean the Vikings would have their choice of Quinn, Peterson or Landry at No. 7 – something few of us had thought possible.
* The Lions signed former Vikings wide receiver Marcus Robinson Wednesday.
* The recent rash of big-name players being traded is being credited by some as being the result of the huge spike in the salary cap agreed upon last spring when the NFL and the players reached a collective bargaining agreement that called for more than a 20 percent increase in the salary cap over a two-year period. With everybody have money to spend, teams can “afford” to add a star veteran player, while other teams get “value” in return – like the trade of Dre Bly to the Broncos for Tatum Bell and George Foster.