Adrian Peterson's appeal of his current suspension for his child abuse arrest and subsequent plea deal was denied on Friday, and now it appears the former face of the Minnesota Vikings is contemplating a career outside of NFL bounds.
Peterson is planning to file a lawsuit against the league over what he sees to be holes in its disciplinary process. If so, his entire reinstatement process could be in jeopardy.
If Peterson is unable to reenter the league in the very near future (his suspension is currently slated to run through April), Peterson's options include retirement, or attempting to compete in the Olympics, per the transcript of this 60-minute phone interview Peterson had with ESPN:
"I've considered retiring from the NFL," Peterson said. "I still made $8 million dollars this year. I've thought about getting back into the real estate (business in Texas) I'm already in. That's something I've been interested in, something I'm involved in. I've thought about getting back into that. I've thought about going after the Olympics — you only live once. It might be time for me to pursue that, as well. I love playing football, don't get me wrong, but this situation is deeper than that. For me, it's like, 'Why should I continue to be a part of an organization or a business that handles players the way they do? Making money off the field anyway, why not continue to pursue that (Olympic) dream and pursue other dreams and hang up the cleats?'"
According to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, a lawsuit will be filed against the NFL on Peterson's behalf in federal court in Minnesota as early as Monday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the lawsuit had not yet been filed.
Peterson said he's interested in competing in the 200- and 400-meter dashes in the Olympics, adding, "I've seriously thought about this real hard. I continue to pray about it, but it's been something that has been heavy, heavy on my heart.
It's unclear as to whether or not Peterson is truly willing to leave millions of NFL dollars on the table in such a scenario, but it will take all of this getting sorted out one way or the other for that to be fully answered one way or the other.
Stay tuned.
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