The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a bit of a new-look secondary entering the 2023 season with cornerback Cameron Sutton and safety Terrell Edmunds gone. We don’t know who the one-for-one replacement for Edmunds will be, or if there will be one. We do know that it’s Patrick Peterson stepping into Sutton’s shoes.
A 12-year veteran, Peterson has spent his entire career playing in the NFC, so he’s going to be getting some different looks now in Pittsburgh. Yet the matchup he’s most looking forward to comes from another former NFC star who is now in the other conference.
“I had an opportunity to go up against Cooper Kupp twice a year when I was with Arizona”, he said during an NFL Total Access segment yesterday when asked which wide receiver he was most excited about in 2023. “Had an opportunity to go up against Ja’Marr [Chase] once, two years ago. But this guy right here, Davante Adams, he’s different. He presents so much trouble at the line of scrimmage. His wiggle of setting up routes, it makes it difficult for DBs to try to get a good knack on what route he’s trying to run”.
Adams, a former second-round draft pick, spent his first eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers before being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders last year. In his first season out west, he caught 100 passes for 1,516 yards and a league-leading 14 touchdowns. The Raiders are on the Steelers’ schedule this year, though we don’t know when just yet.
The two future Hall of Famers have only faced each other four times in their careers, but they squared off twice during the 2021 season, naturally since Peterson was with the Minnesota Vikings by then and thus in the same division as the Packers.
According to Pro Football Focus, Peterson held his own statistically when matched up against Adams in those two games, allowing two receptions on three targets for all of 20 yards. Still, he was given average coverage grades overall in both games.
The outlet was much more favorable to Peterson, particularly in coverage, during the 2022 season. It was one of his best years statistically, with 15 total passes defensed on the year. Five of them were interceptions, the second most he’s had in a season.
With that said, he’ll not want to look past Chase, whom he’ll face at least four times over the next two seasons being in the same division as the Cincinnati Bengals. Chase is undeniably one of the top wide receivers in the game, even if Adams has just as legitimate a claim to the top title.
The NFL is spoiled with riches at the wide receiver position in this era, with ready-made Pro Bowlers coming out of college every season. We’ll still have to wait another year before Marvin Harrison Jr. is eligible for the draft, for example. A cornerback’s job never gets easier.
