Vikings sign Murray, bid Peterson farewell
MINNEAPOLIS — Adrian Peterson has taken his final handoff for Minnesota — a 10-year run featuring a league MVP award, plenty of off-the-field drama and a franchise-leading 11,747 yards rushing over 123 regular-season games.
After the Vikings declined their $18 million option on his contract for 2017 two weeks ago to make Peterson a free agent, they signed former Oakland running back Latavius Murray early Thursday. General manager Rick Spielman then clarified the obvious that the four-time All-Pro will play elsewhere in 2017.
“He will always be a Viking,” Spielman said.”
Murray, who will join Jerick McKinnon as the team’s top two running backs, rushed for 2,278 yards and 20 touchdowns over the last three years with the Raiders after missing his rookie season because of a foot injury. Murray rushed for 788 yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns in 2016 despite missing two games with a toe injury.
Murray has a three-year contract worth as much as $15 million, ESPN reported, but only $3.4 million is guaranteed now.
In other pro football news:
• Dallas re-signed veteran running back Darren McFadden and guard Jonathan Cooper. McFadden will go into his 10th NFL season as a backup to Ezekiel Elliott, who has the league’s leading rushing as a rookie last season. Cooper gives depth on the offensive line that lost Ron Leary to Denver in free agency.
• Former Texas quarterback David Ash, who has not played since the first game of the 2014 season because of concussions, has been cleared to return to football and will participate in the Longhorns’ pro workout day March 28. Ash was 15-7 as a starter but suffered a concussion in the second game of the 2013 season and missed the rest of the year. He tried to return but suffered another head injury in his first game back. He quit the sport a few weeks later saying he was at peace with his decision.
BASEBALL Fernandez likely was boat’s pilot
Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was piloting his boat when the vessel crashed Sept. 25 off Miami Beach, Fla., killing himself and two passengers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a report.
The report concludes that Fernandez was boating while intoxicated and killed himself and his passengers — Emilio Macias and Eduardo Rivero — by operating the 32-foot SeaVee Kaught Looking in a reckless manner. If had survived the crash, Fernandez would have faced various criminal charges including manslaughter and vessel homicide.
Toxicology reports released in October concluded Fernandez, 24, had consumed alcohol and cocaine shortly before the crash. Fernandez’s bloodalcohol level was .147, well above the .08 marker for impaired driving, the Miami-Dade medical examiner said. In other news: • National League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer probably will miss Washington’s opener against Miami on April 3 because of a stress fracture in his right ring finger. The stress fracture had caused Scherzer to change the grip on his fastball, placing three fingers on top of the ball instead of two, but he went back to his old grip Thursday during his first game action this year.
GOLF Lewis in 5-way share of lead
Stacy Lewis missed a chance to shoot the second 59 in LPGA Tour history, settling for an 8-under-par 64 and a share of the first-round lead in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup.
Playing in low-90s heat in near-perfect conditions in Phoenix, Lewis was 9 under through 11 holes, parred the next six and closed with a bogey after hitting into the deep left greenside bunker.
Playing partner Ariya Jutanugarn, In Gee Chun, Katie Burnett and Sandra Changkija joined Lewis atop the leader board at Desert Ridge. All five played in the afternoon.
Lewis holed out from 136 yards for eagle on the par-4 ninth to make the turn in 7-under 27 and added birdies on 10 and 11. In other news: • Emiliano Grillo made it through the cold start at Bay Hill for a 5-under 67 and wound up tied for the lead with Matt Fitzpatrick in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Fla.
WINTER SPORTS Weirather takes women’s super-G
Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein turned in a smooth run to win a World Cup race at Aspen, Colo., and overtake Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec for the super-G crown.
There were several big crashes, including American Lindsey Vonn hitting a panel and sliding down before going into the safety nets. She eventually skied to the finish and waved to the crowd.
Trailing Stuhec by 15 points in the standings, Weirather held nothing back and finished in 1 minute, 11.66 seconds. Two racers later, Stuhec wasn’t as smooth and was second, 0.35 seconds behind. Federica Brignone of Italy took third.
Hannes Reichelt of Austria used a solid run to win the super-G race. Reichelt navigated the tricky course in 1 minute, 8.22 seconds to beat Dominik Paris of Italy by 0.11 seconds. Swiss skier Mauro Caviezel and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tied for third.
Kjetil Jansrud of Norway wound up ninth, but it didn’t matter as he already had the season super-G title locked up.
TENNIS Win over Venus boosts Vesnina
Elena Vesnina recovered after blowing three match points to beat Venus Williams 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.
The 14th-seeded Russian takes on No. 28 seed Kristina Mladenovic in the semifinals. Mladenovic beat Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to break into the top 20 in the WTA Tour rankings for the first time in her career.