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If you're looking for a reason to drop Adrian Peterson behind LaDainian Tomlinson, if not also behind Steven Jackson, at the top of your draft board, how about him running behind a line missing one of its best players?

That's the grim likelihood considering left tackle Bryant McKinnie's legal troubles, which will stretch into the season's first month after the court case was delayed until September.

And with McKinnie a repeat offender in the league's personal conduct program, and commissioner Roger Goodell having acted to suspend players prior to legal outcomes in the past, there's a pretty good chance McKinnie will miss some time at the start of the NFL season.

The question is how much time, and that's still up in the air. Based on McKinnie's history and the severity of the most recent offense -- four charges, including a felony, after a brawl outside a nightclub -- no one would be surprised if McKinnie were suspended for the season's first four games, although that's just speculation at this point. It could be argued that the left tackle's absence would affect the passing game more than the running game, but since the Vikings don't tend to throw very often anyway, breaking up the left side of the line -- McKinnie would be replaced by the decidedly inferior Artis Hicks -- would have the most notable effect on the running game, and Peterson.

Vikings' beat writer Judd Zulgad talks about the situation in the latest update to his blog, which can be found at this link.

—Andy Richardson

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