Leslie Frazier said Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is "just beginning to run on land" this week, but the coach remains cautiously optimistic that his star player will recover from his knee injury by the 2012 season opener.
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"It's too early right now to say he's absolutely going to make the first game, but so far, he's on target with everything we've asked him to do," Frazier said Wednesday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
Frazier said last month at the NFL Scouting Combine that Peterson had to run in a swimming pool first.
After saying Wednesday that the team would "love to have him back Opening Day," Frazier cautioned more will be known about Peterson's status in another week or two. Frazier said there's "no firm timeline," but Peterson is in Minnesota to start "the running phase" of his rehabilitation from the injury.
Peterson tore ligaments in his left knee during the Vikings' second-to-last game last season and missed the finale. He later had surgery, and the Vikingshave been optimistic since December that Peterson would be able to return to the field by the beginning of the 2012 season.
