Adrian Peterson says he’s returning to Vikings because he ‘wants to’

Star running back Adrian Peterson reported to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday to take part in offseason training activities after missing most of last season while banished by the NFL for beating his son and a getting warning from his coach last week.

“I’m returning because I want to,” the 30-year-old, eight-year National Football League veteran told journalists in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. “I’m a part of this football team and I owe it to the guys I play with and to our coaches.”

Peterson, reinstated from his suspension by the NFL in April, skipped last week’s voluntary training activities amid questions about whether he would ever return to the team or try to force the Vikings to send him to another club.

But head coach Mike Zimmer last week made clear that the 2012 NFL Most Valuable Player and six-time Pro Bowl selection was “not going to play for anybody else,” telling reporters, “Adrian, he’s really got two choices. He can either play for us or he cannot play.”

Peterson is due to be paid a $12.75 million salary by the Vikings this season.

“I’m looking forward to getting back on the field,” Peterson said. “It’s what I love to do.”

“It’s time to move forward and put my energy and focus on preparing for the season,” Peterson added.

Peterson played in only one game last season after being embroiled in the child-abuse case. He pleaded no contest in November to a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault for disciplining his 4-year-old son by repeatedly striking him with a thin tree branch called a switch.

Peterson, his team’s all-time leading rusher with 10,190 yards, wavered over the past six months on if he wanted to return to the Vikings and indicated in a Twitter posting last week that he wanted guaranteed money beyond this season.

In 2011, Peterson signed a six-year, $96 million contract extension with the Vikings. He has three years left on the deal but there is no more guaranteed money in his contract.