Minnesota Vikings Reinstate Adrian Peterson

The Minnesota Vikings have decided to activate running back Adrian Peterson following his indictment by a Texas grand jury on child abuse charges. Peterson turned himself end early Friday. The Vikings deactivated him for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.

General manager Rick Spielman said there was a “significant amount of uncertainty” about the information the team had Friday, leading to Peterson’s deactivation for Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots. The team took a step back as an organization over the weekend to re-evaluate and finally decided to allow Peterson to play.

Team owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are on board with the decision and have also released a statement.

“Today’s decision was made after significant thought, discussion and consideration,”

Peterson also released a statement via his Facebook page which expressed hope that the media would respect that he can’t engage in a lot of discussion surrounding the specifics, but that he loves his son and never intended to hurt him.

My attorney has asked me not to discuss the facts of my pending case. I hope you can respect that request and help me honor it. I very much want the public to hear from me but I understand that it is not appropriate to talk about the facts in detail at this time. Nevertheless, I want everyone to understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child.
I never wanted to be a distraction to the Vikings organization, the Minnesota community or to my teammates. I never imagined being in a position where the world is judging my parenting skills or calling me a child abuser because of the discipline I administered to my son.

I voluntarily appeared before the grand jury several weeks ago to answer any and all questions they had. Before my grand jury appearance, I was interviewed by two different police agencies without an attorney. In each of these interviews I have said the same thing, and that is that I never ever intended to harm my son. I will say the same thing once I have my day in court.

I have to live with the fact that when I disciplined my son the way I was disciplined as a child, I caused an injury that I never intended or thought would happen. I know that many people disagree with the way I disciplined my child. I also understand after meeting with a psychologist that there are other alternative ways of disciplining a child that may be more appropriate.
I have learned a lot and have had to reevaluate how I discipline my son going forward. But deep in my heart I have always believed I could have been one of those kids that was lost in the streets without the discipline instilled in me by my parents and other relatives. I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man. I love my son and I will continue to become a better parent and learn from any mistakes I ever make.

I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser. I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day.

I accept the fact that people feel very strongly about this issue and what they think about my conduct. Regardless of what others think, however, I love my son very much and I will continue to try to become a better father and person.

Previously, Peterson had released a bible verse on Twitter.

His wife- the stepmother of the four-year old in the indictment- also added in her own commentary on her Instagram page early Monday.

Peterson is expected to be active for the Vikings Sunday match up against the New Orleans Saints.