"Running back Rashard Mendenhall is drawing attention to himself ? and not because of his costly fumble in Super Bowl XLV.

Mendenhall on Wednesday supported Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's analogy between the NFL and the slave trade.

"It is a lot deep than most people understand," Mendenhall posted on the social networking site Twitter. "Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel each other."

Peterson, a perennial All-Pro, fired the most controversial salvo between players and owners following the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987.

Players decertified as a union Friday after they could not reach a deal with the owners on a new collective bargaining agreement. The owners responded by locking out the players Saturday."