Before the likes of Saquon Barkley revitalized the importance of a running back on the gridiron. Winning a Super Bowl in his first year as an Eagle, resetting the running back market with the largest contract ever given to this position, Adrian Peterson used to wreak havoc with his lightning speed. A Heisman trophy finalist in his Oklahoma Sooners days, Peterson took the NFL by storm back in 2007. Peterson didn’t take long to prove his potential, as he won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year while setting numerous rushing yard records. An NFL-MVP, 7-time Pro Bowler, and 4-time First Team All-Pro, Peterson’s monstrous production on the ground was heavily reflected in the money he went on to earn.
At the later stages of his career, it was reported that Peterson earned over $100 million through just his NFL salary. A chunk of those came through his 9-year span in Minnesota. Peterson’s first big contract was the 5-year, $40M deal he received from the Vikings as a rookie with an average annual salary of $8M. Then, in the final year of his rookie contract, Peterson got a massive extension worth $86M from the Vikings. This whopping extension for Peterson granted him an annual salary of $14.4M.
Four years later, he signed a 3-year, $42 million extension again with the Vikings. Unfortunately, in 2017, the Vikings chose not to exercise their 2017 option on his initial contract. This would have led to the Vikes paying Peterson $18M just for one season. So, after finishing his 9-year tenure with the Vikings, Peterson signed a two-year, $7M contract with the Saints. However, his time in the Big Easy only lasted a few months. As Peterson was on the move again, this time to the Arizona Cardinals.
Credits: IMAGO
From there, Peterson’s career slowly took a nose dive. Within the next 5 seasons, he made trips to Washington, Detroit, Tennessee, and Seattle. And after the 2023 season, when none of the team signed Peterson, he chose to hang up his cleats. Having earned in nine-figures just from the NFL, Peterson’s off-the-field antics have crashed his valuation. At the time of writing, Peterson, deemed one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, is valued at only $1 million—largely due to his financial mismanagement.
Adrian Peterson’s 8-figure debt after a glorified NFL career
There still hasn’t been a running back who has earned over $100M in his NFL career. Obviously, Saquon Barkley is expected to break Peterson’s record. But when it comes to losing all of his wealth in a flash, Peterson was probably the unluckiest NFLer ever. Peterson is currently in a long legal battle with a Pennsylvania lending company to whom he was supposed to pay back a long time ago. A $5.2M loan has since risen to $12.5M through attorney’s fees and 9% interest on all amounts.
Peterson apparently took this loan in 2016 and promised to pay it back with interest the next year. However, a knee injury that led to Peterson being released by the Vikings in 2017, after he declined to pay him $18M, had a massive impact on Peterson’s earnings. From there, Adrian never earned more than $3.5 million a year. It has also been said that Peterson tried to secure an $18 million advance payment from the Vikings. But obviously, those efforts didn’t materialize. In 2021, when a New York court awarded DeAngelo Vehicle Sales, the company from which Peterson took out the loan, nearly $9M with 9% interest.
They also appointed Attorney Robert Berleth as the receiver to recover the money Peterson still owes. However, Berleth’s efforts have largely been unsuccessful, as he claims Adrian Peterson has prevented the seizure of his assets. Berleth also accused Peterson of playing a shell game with his assets to avoid paying those payments. This court also stopped Peterson from auctioning his trophies and sports memorabilia.
As Berleth said in his court documents, “The Receiver intercepted an auction the debtor initiated and seized items at Storage Facilities leased and secured with lock by the Debtor. The assets belong to the Debtor. The leases at the Storage Facilities were delinquent. The debtor contested the sale of trophies.” Peterson may have later said he is financially stable and would never sell off his hard-earned trophies. But this matter is far from over. The 40-year-old is still deep in trouble because of his debts and other misdemeanours.
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