Roger Goodell impressed with Adrian Peterson's return from suspension

— -- MINNEAPOLIS -- A little more than a year after he suspended Adrian Peterson, telling the Minnesota Vikings running back in a letter that he had "shown no remorse" while pleading no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault charges, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will watch him try to extend his NFL rushing lead against the Green Bay Packers.

On Sunday morning, Goodell praised the way Peterson handled his suspension and returned from it.

"He's an extraordinary player and a wonderful young man, and so I was very impressed with all the meetings with Adrian," Goodell said. "He's an individual that took [the incident] seriously and said I want to do better and I think he's taken great advantage of that opportunity."

Peterson, who was indicted by a grand jury on Sept. 12, 2014, after injuring his 4-year-old son in an act of corporal punishment, missed 15 games last year between his one-game deactivation, his time on the commissioner's exempt list and the suspension that kept him out of the league until he was reinstated on April 16.

He was critical of the league's disciplinary process last December, telling ESPN he acted on the advice of the NFL Players Association and declined to attend a meeting with Goodell last November because of concerns over its nature and scope.

Goodell suspended Peterson on Nov. 18, 2014, and arbitrator Harold Henderson upheld Peterson's suspension on Dec. 12. Federal judge David Doty, however, overturned Peterson's suspension in February, saying the league could not apply harsher discipline under its revised personal conduct policy because Peterson's incident happened before the policy was changed.

The running back met with Goodell on April 8 and was reinstated eight days later. He began Week 11 with the NFL rushing lead, posting 961 yards in his first nine games of the season.