On Tuesday, Adrian Peterson joined the Minnesota Vikings for practice, heading to the professional football field for the first time since he was formally suspended by the NFL last fall.

His suspension, which ended on Tuesday, was a result of questions being raised and criminal charges being brought over his discipline of his son, who was 4 years old at the time.

In a news conference, Peterson addressed the situation. "The first person I apologized to as my son, right after the situation took place," said Peterson, according to reports from the Star Tribune. "I realized what had happened, I apologized for the mistake I had made, it wasn't my intentions and I've been trying to move forward since."

Peterson added that he did not want people to believe that he was a victim or that he felt that he was the victim, but rather that he was responsible for his actions.

He was suspended last November for what the National Football League called "an incident of abusive discipline", after he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child in September 2014.

After the incident, Peterson publicly apologized for using a tree branch to spank his son, who was 4 years old, until he drew blood.

After the felony charge was dropped, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor.

Peterson spent part of his suspension in therapy, which included a session with his son, and his teammates were glad to have him back upon his return.

In his conference, he compared his teammates to his family.