AP

The Cardinals have been mentioned as a potential landing spot for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in the event that the Vikings trade or release him this offseason.

Based on a report from Peter King in this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback, the release option is the more likely route for Peterson to wind up in the desert. King spoke to a source from the Cardinals about the possibility of trading for Peterson, who said he is “waiting to see what happens” after meeting with team ownership last week.

That source said the Cardinals haven’t had talks with the Vikings yet and that they won’t trade for the running back as long as he has three years and $45 million left on his contract.

“We haven’t had contact with the Vikings about it, to the best of my knowledge,” the source told King. “And there is no way we could live with those numbers. We just got Larry Fitzgerald’s contract under control. No way we’d add that salary.”

Teams say they aren’t going to do something before doing it often enough that you can’t close the door completely but Peterson turns 30 this Saturday, which is the sort of thing that gives team’s pause when it comes to paying most running backs a lot of money over several years. Peterson hasn’t been most running backs over the course of his career, of course, but his lost 2014 season adds another wrinkle to an equation that might be difficult to figure out if a trade is the path the Vikings decide to take.