The Facts: Peterson is getting hit too much, and Mike Zimmer vows to do something about it. After watching plenty of film on Peterson since taking over as Vikings coach in January, Zimmer said the team needs to do more to get the star running back into the open field. “He’s such a great player, a hall of fame player, one of the best ever," Zimmer said Tuesday at the NFL owners’ meetings. “I think you always got to use those kind of guys. We’d like to run him into a few less bodies, so there’s not 11 of them meeting him at the (line of scrimmage)."

Diehards Line:Fortunately, OC Norv Turner is a month or so ahead of the curve on this one, telling reporters in early February, ""It's hard to do, but we would like to get him in space and getting the field spread a little bit better for him. ..." Peterson rushed for 2,097 yards in 2012, the second most in NFL history. However, last year he fell off to 1,266 yards and missed two games in December due to injury. Peterson underwent surgery on his groin in January, but Zimmer recently said the star RB will be ready when offseason workouts get underway in April.