Q&A: Vikings' Mike Zimmer says Adrian Peterson will get 'as much as he can take'

Tom Pelissero | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Adrian Peterson reports to Vikings training camp USA TODAY Sports' Tom Pelissero reports from Minnesota Vikings training camp, where Adrian Peterson's presence is the big story.

MANKATO, Minn. — No matter what anybody says, Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has no plans to limit Adrian Peterson's workload on Sundays now that the 30-year-old former NFL MVP is back on the active roster and ready to rip.

Sitting in his golf cart after Sunday's afternoon practice, Zimmer spoke with USA TODAY Sports about Peterson's role, the choice former first-round receiver Cordarrelle Patterson must make, why the coach is betting on second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, why he likes to conduct practice in bad weather and more.

Question: You had so much to deal with in your first season as a head coach. Now everyone keeps talking about how calm things are here. Can you enjoy it? Or are you just paranoid about what could possibly happen in Year 2?

Answer: I think every team has things that they have to deal with throughout the course of a season. I'm sure we'll have some, too. But it's nice being settled at the quarterback position. Coaching's a lot like being a fireman — you're putting out fires a lot. There's something happening all the time. It's very similar for defensive coaches. Offensive coaches are always trying to trick you and scheme you. Defensive coaches are always trying to put out the fires.

Q: Your background is as a defensive coach. Are you dividing your time any differently here than last year?

A: Well, I'm getting in some of the other meetings a little bit more, but it's just starting. So, we'll see how this goes. I'll probably run the defensive meeting tonight.

Q: I found it interesting you said you'll do more inside-run drills this year to continue building the tough mentality you want. Was this team not tough enough last year?

A: No, I don't think that. We didn't do any inside run (last year). And it's not going to be live. But it's just a little bit more of coming off the ball, hitting somebody offensively, being able to take on blocks — it's just mentality. I want us to keep progressing as a tough, smart and passionate football team. This game is about tough, smart people. And the mentality of that is really what I want our team to have.

Q: How else do you try to build that?

A: In the weight room, the offseason program. I told the players today, 'If it rains today, we're staying out. I don't care if it's hailing or what. As long as it ain't lightning, we're staying out.' So, sometimes it's just the message that you preach.

Q: I heard in OTAs you practiced one day in a total downpour and nobody had ever seen anything like it.

A: The first day (laughs). That was something. I said that today because it was supposed to rain a little bit. Players said, 'Hey, Coach, we already know we ain't going in.' I just want them to have that mentality. And nothing's going to be perfect on Sundays. If (a player says) 'Oh well, my quad doesn't feel good today' or something — that's tough! You've got to go play. We don't want to have — and I'm not saying this derogatory as to track — but we don't want to have a track mentality. We want to have a physical (mentality). We're not going to be completely, 100% healthy during the year, and we've got to go. The guys are counting on us. I'm counting on them. The other players are counting on them. It's just the mindset that I want to have.

Q: You don't want to be the team that gets punched in the mouth, and you check to see if your teeth are still there. You want to be the team that punches back.

A: Right. And we don't want to go and stick our toe in the water and see if it's cold. We want to jump in. Let's go. It doesn't matter if it's cold or not.

Q: So what is the identity of this team in your mind?

A: Well, I continually hope that that's our identity — is that we're a smart team, we're disciplined, we're tough, we do things right. But when opposing coaches see us, I want them to say, 'Hey, these guys are a good football team. They do things correctly. They take care of the football on offense. They hustle. They swarm on defense. They don't give up big plays. They don't commit penalties.' That's what I want this football team (to be). And like I've said before, when the fans watch us, I want them to be proud of how we play on Sunday. Fans are very intelligent. They know what good football is and bad football. I want us to see us do things right: We make critical plays at the end of ballgames, we understand the different situations in games, and that's really what I'm trying to teach them.

Q: What do you see right now when you look in Adrian Peterson's eyes?

A: I don't see anything different really than what I've seen before. I feel like he's at peace with the situation. He's at peace with the team. I think he's excited about the potential that we have. So, I think he's going to run mean, because that's usually the way he does it.

Q: Your running backs coach, Kirby Wilson, had a quote people noticed about the backfield workload being more balanced than in years past. Is that fair? What's the ideal split to you?

A: I saw that, too, and ... Adrian's going to get the heavy workload. So, the other guys are going to fight for their reps.

Q: So basically, as much as he can take …?

A: As much as he can take, and as much as he can handle in all the things that we're doing. Obviously, we're going to have to spell him at times like you do a lot of guys. But we get down on the goal line, and we're probably not pulling him out, you know? He's our best player, and we're going to continue to use him.

Q: Adrian has been up and down over his career in pass protection and the receiving game. Given how little you saw him in game situations a year ago, do you need to feel out if there are spots for Jerick McKinnon and some of the other guys?

A: Jerick is different than Adrian in a lot of ways, and Matt (Asiata)'s different than Adrian. Everybody's different than Adrian. Going back to last year, it was just one game, but (Peterson) did a good job in protection. We throw the ball to the backs quite a bit, so he did catch the ball. We'll continue to do that. If you get a guy like him that if you get him out in space, whether it's a screen or a flare or an option route or something like that, if it does get to those positions, defenders understand they're covering 28, and so they're going to give him the respect that he's due whether it's in the passing game or the running game. All he needs is a little bit of separation and, hopefully, he catches a ball and then a lot of good things can happen out there, especially when the other side is cleared out.

Q: How much closer are you to having the pieces in place to run the defense the way you want to?

A: We're closer. The thing I've noticed through OTAs — and honestly, I have no idea how good we're going to be defensively, I have no idea — but I do know this: We are practicing at such a faster, quicker tempo as far as the mental part of things. The thinking, the reacting — they're just more used to the system and the calls and the techniques and the things that we're doing. So, we look much faster to me now than we did a year ago at this time. Now, whether or not that converts into being a better defense, I don't know. But they're more confident about the things they're doing now. They have so much a better understanding and it helps them. We seem to be playing faster.

Q: I believe you have five former first-round draft picks on defense. Some guys like Chad Greenway are older, but to me, that stat suggests you have a lot of premier athletes.

A: Yeah, we (do), and we're getting better. I think Rick (Spielman, the Vikings general manager)'s done a good job of getting the guys in here. We were fortunate. We had two first-round picks last year, and so I think in three years they had seven first-round picks or something. And obviously, the more talent that you can bring in a team, the more athletic and typically bigger, faster and stronger (you are).

Q: There is a physical transformation evident with some guys, too. Everson Griffen, for instance, looks likes he's been power-lifting for eight months straight. Is that by design — that you're trying to fit these guys into desired body types?

A: We want big guys. We want to be able to overpower guys. But we also want to have a fast football team. We want athletes. That's like this Danielle Hunter — he's a big, fast, raw athlete, and those are the kind of guys that we want to continue to try to (develop). MyCole Pruitt — he's a big, fast athlete. These are the kind of guys we want to continue to add our football team so that we can continually get bigger and faster and, hopefully, smarter.

Q: Rick trusts you and your staff a lot to take those raw athletes and mold them into football players. What needs to happen for Cordarrelle Patterson to do that?

A: Cordarrelle is on a good track right now, OK? Now, can he sustain? Can he continue to sustain what he's doing? Because like today, I thought he had a good day. In OTAs, I thought he improved. He'll have really good days, and then he'll have some not-so-good days. Really, I think what he needs to do is just the consistency every single day and the consistency in studying, the consistency in getting extra help that he needs if he needs it, running the routes the same all the time and understanding that there's a lot of great athletes that play professional sports, and there's a lot of great athletes that don't make it in professional sports because they don't have the other intangibles. To me, the biggest thing with him is that: Does he want to be 'Flash' or does he want to be a great receiver? I'm not trying to dog him or anything, but that's really what it is.

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Q: Those receivers are different cats in general. Really, as a head coach, you've got 90 personalities right now and you have to figure out how to get through to each one.

A: That's part of it. You deal with different personalities, and that's fine — as long as they understand what it really takes to be a great player. If there's a guy that's in the Hall of Fame, and he's a little bit out there, that's different than a guy trying to get to those kind of spots. I'll bet you if you go through all the receivers that are in the Hall of Fame, there ain't very many of them that are all about the flash and not about the substance, you know what I mean? They have all had to work hard. They've all had to bust their rear ends. They've all had to prove something at some point in time. That's part of getting these guys to understand this.

Q: I've talked to some personnel guys for other teams who think Teddy Bridgewater will take a step back in Year 2 for the same reasons he slid all the way to you at No. 32 in the draft last year. How do you make sure that doesn't happen and he takes a step forward instead?

A: I don't think that he's going to take a step back, I think he's going to continue to improve. I know this kid is a great competitor. The things that he did great in college (and) he did great in the NFL (last) year, were two-minute situations, crucial situations in the game, the big throws on third downs, when the competitive things were there. That's not going to change. I know that part about him is not going to change. Maybe (defenses will adjust), like everybody, the second time through. But actually, we played Detroit the second game, and we played pretty darn good. He had the two interceptions, but he did pretty darn good. He progressed so much more in the second half of the year than the beginning. So, I'm hopeful that he keeps where he left off and keeps progressing. Maybe the other guys will be right, I don't know. But I'm betting on Teddy, because I know his character, and I know his personality, and I know the composure. I know what the vets have told me about him.

Q: You've been on some good teams. You've been on some bad teams, some dysfunctional teams, too. I know we're sitting here on July 26, but is this a playoff-caliber team? Can you tell?

A: No, you never really can tell. I like this team, because I like the way we work. I like the personality of this team. I like the intelligence of this team. I think they have the correct mindset. Now, it's all going to come down to how we go out and perform on Sundays. But that part about it, I like. I think we have some talent. You don't know about injuries and what happens all those things. But we do have some talent, and we've upgraded the talent since I've been here. And the kind of people we have, that Rick has brought in here, it leads me to believe that we have an opportunity. Then we've got to go out and do it, which we haven't done. How do you know if the game's on the line and you've got to make the play to make the playoffs and we drop the ball or we catch the ball or we intercept the ball? That's the thing you don't really know, and you won't know until you get there.

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