Matt Chatham: Adrian Peterson’s Rant Sheds Light On Power Imbalance

Adrian Peterson has quite the bone to pick with NFL contracts.

The Minnesota Vikings running back, who has stayed away from OTAs this week, unleashed a string of tweets Thursday afternoon, arguing why NFL players should have the same type of guaranteed contracts that players in others sports receive. While Peterson might be “the worst possible spokesman right now,” according to former NFL linebacker Matt Chatham, he isn’t completely wrong in his griping about the power imbalance that exists. But he isn’t completely right either.

Chatham argues that players are going to have to “get down and get dirty” for contract rights if they want to see some changes in the near future.

“Yes, teams currently exert a ton of leverage over players — they cut them from their contracts when they want instead of honoring them to their completion (as Peterson mentions in his other tweets),” Chatham wrote on FootballByFootball.com. “The league also has a kangaroo court of discipline that’s a breeding ground for corruption and hypocrisy — exactly the opposite of everything it publicly purports to be. But that’s just because players don’t (and didn’t) use the leverage that they have to take those ridiculous aspects of our league off the table.”