Saints' Adrian Peterson admits he wants to 'stick it' to the Vikings in Week 1

Peterson will return to Minnesota in a different uniform for the debut of 'Monday Night Football'

By Sean Wagner-McGough

Sep 3, 2017 at 5:53 pm ET • 1 min read

The next chapter of Adrian Peterson's NFL career begins where it ended. On Sept. 11, the Saints will head to Minnesota to kick off their 2017 season. For Peterson, it's not just his debut with his new team, it's also a chance to take some revenge against the team that decided to decline his contract option this offseason.

On Saturday, Peterson admitted that he wants to "stick it" to the Vikings next week.

"In my mind, we're starting and ending the season in Minnesota," Peterson said, per the Star Tribune. "Of course I want to stick it to them. I want to stick it to everyone we play. But going back to Minnesota, playing the Vikings? Yeah, I want to stick it to them."

Of note: This season's Super Bowl will be played in Minnesota.

There probably shouldn't be any bad blood between the two sides considering the parting made sense from both sides. Then again, what Peterson's father said in the offseason certainly ruffled some feathers in the Vikings' locker room.

"What we personally like is (the Raiders') offensive line," he told the Pioneer Press. "The offensive line, they haven't been playing around. They haven't been trying to get offensive linemen from the bottom of the barrel and trying to make them into something."

That didn't sit well with the Vikings' offensive line.

"If you got something to say, you say it," Alex Boone told PFT Live. "Be a man about it."

It's worth noting that Boone was cut this weekend after he reportedly refused to take a pay cut. So, he won't be there to face the Saints next week.

Peterson, 32, spent the first decade of his career with the Vikings after they made him the seventh-overall pick in 2007. In Minnesota, Peterson racked up 11,747 rushing yards and 97 rushing touchdowns -- more than any other player in that span. He won MVP in 2012. But the Vikings' decision to let him walk made complete sense considering his age, his injury-filled 2016 season, and his contract.

Now with the Saints, Peterson gets to play alongside Drew Brees. Most importantly, he won't be expected to carry the running game with Mark Ingram and rookie Alvin Kamara on the depth chart. Meanwhile, the Vikings moved on by signing Latavius Murray and drafting Dalvin Cook.