Vikings running back Adrian Peterson knows he can’t escape all of the Brett Favre to Minnesota talk and that certainly was the case today as he spent time leading a punt, pass and kick clinic for athletes from Special Olympics Minnesota at Winter Park.

Asked about what kind of questions the participants asked him, Peterson said: ”A couple questions I got from them [were], ‘Do you know anything about Brett Favre? What’s going on?’” Peterson was careful in his response. “I said, ‘I don’t know, you might want to ask Coach [Brad] Childress about that.’ Kind of brushed it off.”

Peterson couldn’t be blamed for taking this approach. These days everyone wants to ask Peterson and his teammates about the possibility of Favre coming out of retirement to play for the Vikings. Peterson, in turn, just wants to focus on the guys he can currently call teammates, such as quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.

“I look at the situation and it is what it is,” Peterson said. “Every year you’ve got guys coming in trying to take your spot, compete for your spot. Speaking on Brett Favre, he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. I have much respect for him but the guy’s that I’m surrounded around, Tarvaris Jackson, Sage, don’t really know too much about him. But those are the guys that we’re leaning on right now. So that has been my main focus is really getting myself prepared, not get caught up in any type of Brett Favre talk or anything like that. Just focus on, ‘What can I do to be able to help my team this coming season?’”

Peterson, the NFL’s leading rusher last season, said he senses a different attitude around Winter Park these days. The Vikings made the playoffs last season for the first time since Peterson joined the team in 2007 but were eliminated in the first round by Philadelphia

“From me being here going into my third year with the guys I came in with, just a different focus as far as mindset,” Peterson said when asked what was different from a year ago. “Being able to get the taste of the playoffs last year, I think that it’s opened eyes from guys and it’s OK, ‘We really can make a run.’ Just the focus. I see guys in here working out hard and there’s really just like a different vibe in the locker room.”

At the NFL Scouting Combine in February, Childress had talked about the fact he wanted Peterson more focused on football this offseason. And Peterson said Wednesday he has done just that.  

“Through the past two or three years, I’ve had the experience of doing too much and not really being able to dedicate the time I would like to working out and preparing myself,” he said. “I’ve really cut back a lot this year and I have more time to study film and really just focus on the most important things that make those things possible off the field. Get my body prepared.”

Other items of interest from Peterson:

– On if quarterback Michael Vick deserves a second chance: “I really think everyone deserves a second chance. I think he has paid his debt to society so hopefully someone will reach out and give him another opportunity.”

– Peterson, who expressed a desire to add 7 to 12 pounds this offseason, said he is at 216 or 217 pounds, his weight at the end of last season was 217. Peterson said he still would like to get to 225 pounds.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.