The Vikings Have Already Invested More Than $70 Million In Adrian Peterson

The Minnesota Vikings deactivated star running back Adrian Peterson this past weekend following his arrest on child abuse charges. However, Peterson was still be paid close to $700,000 for the week as part of his 6-year, $86.3 million contract he signed prior to the 2011 season.

In all, the Vikings will have paid Peterson $55.4 million of that contract by the end of this season including a $12 million signing bonus and an $11.8 million salary this season. Peterson will also have been paid $71.8 million overall since he was drafted by the Vikings seventh overall in the 2007 draft.

In addition, Peterson is taking up $14.4 million of the Vikings salary cap space this season.

While many people would like to see the Vikings sit Peterson until his case is resolved, it can't be dismissed that the Vikings have a lot of money and cap space devoted to Peterson and the success of the rest of the team depends on him being on the field. So it should be no surprise that he will be back on the field next week.