Adrian Peterson huddles with Vikings owners

Tom Pelissero | USA TODAY Sports

Adrian Peterson has taken the conversation about his future to the top of the Minnesota Vikings organization.

The 2012 NFL MVP traveled Monday to New York, where Peterson met with New Jersey-based Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf and general manager Rick Spielman, the team confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday.

Peterson took a commercial flight from Houston to LaGuardia Airport for the meeting, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

It was a continuation of the discussion Peterson had last week with Spielman and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who huddled with Peterson for about 4 hours at his home outside Houston to discuss his future with the team.

The Wilfs' involvement was inevitable. Peterson remains the face of the Vikings franchise -- a fixture in the community who shook hands at the state Capitol as the team was trying to secure public funding for their new $1 billion stadium and was at the groundbreaking the next year.

Peterson, 29, has not publicly demanded a trade or release. But he has mused since November about the upside of resuming his career elsewhere and reiterated in a statement after last week's meeting he still has concerns about returning to Minnesota after last year's controversy.

The way the running back market is panning out, with Marshawn Lynch and LeSean McCoy recently getting big guarantees on new deals, bodes well for Peterson's chances to cash in as well if given the opportunity to hit the open market or, more likely, renegotiate upon a trade.

Peterson is scheduled to make $12.75 million in base salary and a $250,000 workout bonus in 2015 – none of it guaranteed – and all indications are he wouldn't consider a pay cut. His compensation is scheduled to rise to $15 million in 2016 and at least $18 million in 2017.

The Vikings have made clear their priority is to bring him back and they have no plans to release him. However, rules permit the team to trade Peterson like any other player beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday, when the new league year and free agency begin.

The process of sorting out Peterson's future has accelerated since Feb. 27, when a federal judge vacated the arbitration decision that upheld his suspension in December, with reinstatement no sooner than April 15.

The NFL appealed the decision and moved Peterson back from the suspended list to the commissioner's exempt list – a status change that permitted direct communication with Vikings officials for the first time in months.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty to vacate the decision of appeals officer Harold Henderson could push the NFL and the union towards a settlement that would reinstate Peterson sooner than later.

Peterson appeared in just one game last season, spending most of the year on the exempt list following his felony indictment for injuring his 4-year-old son while disciplining him with a wooden switch and subsequent no-contest plea to a misdemeanor.

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Follow reporter Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero