Cornerback Patrick Peterson has not, as one would imagine, spent a great deal of time over the course of his 12-year career working in the slot. A future Hall of Fame outside defender, his role during his first season with the Steelers has been the subject of much discussion, particularly in how it relates to him possibly shifting into more slot work.
It’s an active and legitimate one, considering the coaches and players are talking about it. They’ve begun breaking him into the slot so far during OTAs, perhaps in anticipation of Joey Porter Jr. cracking the starting lineup early. But how much can they sustain his work inside? Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette isn’t sure the extent.
Asked about this scenario—Peterson in the slot with Porter and Levi Wallace playing outside as a regular feature—during a chat session yesterday, the beat writer noted that they’ve been working at in practice. “I think he can play there on occasion when certain matchups dictate, but I don’t think he’s a full-time slot CB”, he wrote.
Peterson has only played perhaps 1,000 snaps in the slot over the course of his long career, according to Pro Football Focus. I count only a relative handful of games in which he saw 15 or more snaps, and only one of 20 or more. In other words, his typical slot usage had not been out of the ordinary for typical movements in-game based on formation, which occasionally requires an outside cornerback to work inside.
While this would be a new role for him, he would be far from the first high-profile cornerback to make a shift from playing on the outside to playing on the inside, or more commonly, at safety, as they enter the late stages of their careers.
Only time will tell if the experiment proves successful, but I am becoming increasingly confident that it is the direction they are going to go by intention. If it doesn’t work out, they will adjust with the likes of Chandon Sullivan, and possibly even Tre Norwood or others, but Peterson in the slot, theoretically, would seem part of a scenario that allows them to get their best players on the field.
It will be an interesting experiment to monitor over the course of the offseason, and more likely than not, well into the regular season. Will they try to use him as a full-time slot defender, lining up outside in the base defense but sliding inside whenever a fifth defensive back comes onto the field? Will they use a more situational approach with the likes of Sullivan seeing the field considerably?
And it’s worth asking—is this in part a product of the Steelers’ desire to move away from the smaller slot defenders? When you have to deal with guys like Tyler Boyd in the AFC North, it might not be a bad idea to have a bigger option.
