Peterson takes first hits since surgery

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. Running back Adrian Peterson is taking his first hits in practice with the Minnesota Vikings in his continued recovery from major knee surgery. Coach Leslie Frazier said that Peterson, who had surgery on Dec. 31 to repair two torn ligaments in his left knee, has begun taking his from defenses during team drills in practice Monday. Peterson returned to practice two weeks ago after being activated from the physically unable to perform list, but Frazier had a strict no-hitting policy on Peterson, who's been ruled out of playing the preseason. Without any games to prepare Peterson for the regular-season opener on Sept. 9, Frazier said the team would slowly start to give Peterson more contact during practice to get him ready for game-like conditions. That first contact came Monday. "We put him through some things today," Frazier said. "We told our defense to hit him a little bit, see how he responded. So, I'm anxious to talk with him and see how he did. I told (running backs coach) James Saxon that we were going to be contacting him today and if the guys hit him too hard to make sure he let me know or Saxon know. He told James Saxon, 'Hey, you tell coach, you better tell those defensive players to buckle up.' I knew it would get him fired up. He did pretty good just from an observation standpoint. So, we'll see when I talk with him how he feels." Follow Brian Hall on Twitter.