The Patrick Peterson saga continues on with a little more than one week to go until the 2018 NFL trading deadline passes.
Less than one full week after Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said his team has no plans of trading Peterson this season, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Monday afternoon that the veteran cornerback and former first-round draft pick out of LSU has asked to be dealt by this year’s trade deadline. According to Schefter, “Peterson feels as if the situation is deteriorating and continues to reaffirm to others that he ‘desperately’ wants out of Arizona.’
Not long after Schefter’s Monday report on Twitter surfaced, former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden, who is now an analyst for CBS Sports, also took to Twitter to say that the New Orleans Saints would be the ideal trade destination for Peterson, who just so happens to be his cousin. The Saints, however, don’t currently have a 2019 first-round selection to trade for Peterson.
While fans of the Steelers will still insist that the team’s general manager Kevin Colbert do his due diligence to acquire Peterson from the Cardinals, if indeed Arizona is willing to trade the top-rated cornerback, please keep in mind that the cost to do so is likely to be very heavy. In fact, with the Dallas Cowboys acquiring wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Oakland Raiders on Monday in exchange for a first-round draft pick, one must think that the Cardinals would insist on getting at least that in return for Peterson.
Yes, Peterson would look absolutely fabulous in a Steelers uniform but as I wrote not long ago, it would take a very out-of-character move by Colbert in order for such a transaction to happen. Personally, I think Peterson will wind up with either the Saints, Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles if he’s ultimately traded in the next week.
Peterson, who is now 28, is currently making $11 million this season with the Cardinals. His current contract runs through the 2020 season and pays him base salaries in 2019 and 2020 of $11 million and $12.05 mllion, respectively. So far this season Peterson has registered 35 total tackles and 2 interceptions.
Not that it matters but Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown put in his vote on social media for Pittsburgh to trade for Peterson on Monday. This, however, is the same Brown that thought the team should sign free agent wide receiver Dez Bryant several weeks ago after the Cowboys cut him.
“We’re not trading Patrick,” Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks said Monday. “That’s out of the question.”
