Peterson starts cutting, Harvin has surgery

Two of the Vikings’ biggest playmakers are on the mend. Adrian Peterson is continuing to progress in his rehab from a torn ACL and Percy Harvin had shoulder surgery on Tuesday.

Two of the Minnesota Vikings’ top playmakers, running back Adrian Peterson and receiver Percy Harvin, are on the mend.

Peterson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on Dec. 24 and had surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews on Dec. 30. He began running on land in late March and now has starting cutting, as well, as he worked out in Minnesota this week, putting his eight- to nine-month rehabilitation on schedule.

“He’s doing great. He’s been here throughout this week and had a chance to run with our players on Tuesday,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. “He was off to the side working with our trainer, Eric Sugarman, and he looked out and saw the guys doing their wind sprints and he said, ‘You know, I don’t think they’re running hard enough.’ Eric allowed him to go out and run with them and he passed them four different times. He finished in first four different times. I remember Joe Webb saying, ‘I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.’ He’s doing great and we’re optimistic that he’s going to be ready for that first game. I know that’s his goal and we’ll just see how he continues to progress, but he’s doing great.”

Although he has started cutting a little, Frazier said Peterson still needs to become more comfortable with that, which is the next hurdle on his road to recovery.

“He’s begun some cutting, but that’s the next step. He has to get to the point where he’s comfortable cutting. Straight ahead he’s doing great,” Frazier said. “Now he has to get to the point where he’s comfortable with being able to go left to right or right to left and stopping and starting. One step at a time. Right now it’s cutting.”

Harvin, the Vikings’ leading receiver last year with 87 catches for 967 yards and six touchdowns, had surgery on his shoulder Tuesday to remove bone spurs. He delayed the surgery two weeks because of a family emergency, but is still expected to be ready for the start of the Vikings’ organized team activities at the end of May.

Harvin reportedly played with a sprained acromioclavicular joint last year. A magnetic resonance image showed damage around the AC joint, but he is expected to need only a couple weeks to recover from surgery.
“He’s back home now and seems to be doing fine,” Frazier said.

The Vikings started their offseason conditioning program on Monday and Frazier said there are only three or four players that didn’t take part this week, including defensive end Jared Allen.

“Our participation is the best that we’ve had in any of my time here,” Frazier said. “… We’ve never had this type of participation here in Minnesota. It’s great for us. It was emotional to see the guys come in on Monday in the numbers they did. I was like, ‘Wow, they understand. They get it.’ We’re off to a very good start.”

He said there were no surprises on the injury front.

The Vikings’ organized team activities are scheduled to start on May 29.

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