One of the first things CB Patrick Peterson talked about after announcing he was signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers was head coach Mike Tomlin’s intentions of playing him all over the field. More recently, he specifically thanked Tomlin for allowing him to be a football player in total, not just a cornerback.
With the team now out of Latrobe, and out of the public eye, they will begin breaking in more looks that we will see in the regular season, with reporters acknowledging seeing Peterson working more extensively in the slot and elsewhere.
The assumption has been that Peterson’s ability to move around the field will enable rookie CB Joey Porter Jr. to start right away, if he is ready. That’s not quite the reality, Mark Kaboly indicates for The Athletic. Writing last week, he said that Levi Wallace is “locked into a starting spot”, regardless of what happens with Porter or Peterson.
So what does that mean, exactly? If Porter does emerge as a full-time starter, then would it actually be Peterson coming off the bench in the nickel? That does seem to be the implication here, even if they gave him a two-year, $14 million contract.
Even if that were the case, it’s not as though he wouldn’t still see plenty of playing time. Perhaps they might even use some packages in which himself, Porter, and Wallace are all on the field in a “base” 3-4 front with S Minkah Fitzpatrick, if they see Peterson as a safety-capable option in select scenarios.
Wallace is one of those relatively quiet veterans whom you don’t think much about simply for the fact that all he does is do his job. He earned a starting role last season in his first year with the Steelers after Ahkello Witherspoon struggled, going on to set a career high in interceptions with four.
Peterson understands that age 33 his career is winding down. He is very much invested in leaving the game, and the Steelers, in a better place than he found it. Taking Porter under his wing has been a big part of that, telling reporters that the rookie will be better than he was over time.
Perhaps he will even be better than Peterson now. If the coaches find that to be the case, then he will be on the field. This Athletic article was written prior to Saturday’s game, during which Porter debuted well, including an interception.
He will have one more on-field opportunity to state his case for an immediate starting role this Thursday night. Tomlin said after Saturday’s game that there is still a lot more they need to see after the rookie missed the first game due to injury, insisting that he needs every rep possible and then some.
Will the time between now and the start of the regular season be a sufficient period of time for Porter to seize a full-time starting role by the opener? And if so, will that push Peterson to the bench in base packages? If Wallace is “locked into a starting spot”, that would be one of the logical consequences.
