The Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran CB Patrick Peterson this offseason to fill the void left by Cameron Sutton, who left in free agency after six years with the team. As we get deeper into training camp, it’s seeming as though that’s going to be the case in more ways than one—particularly in terms of versatility.
After spending the first dozen years of his NFL career as an outside cornerback, Peterson has talked since before he even officially signed a contract about the role the Steelers would have for him moving around the field.
The claims strained credulity somewhat, expecting it largely to just mean that he would spend time working in the slot, but it seems each day of training camp offers another glimpse into the depth of those plans. He spent time working at safety on Sunday, and apparently there’s more to come.
“I honestly believe you’re gonna see me lined up a little bit of everywhere. Coach [Mike Tomlin] has got some plans for me”, he told Mike Prisuta and Craig Wolfley on Training Camp Live for the team’s website. “Hopefully you guys will be able to see that pretty soon”.
“It’s gonna be fun”, he added. “I just want to thank Coach Tomlin for giving me the opportunity to be a ball player, not just a cornerback. That’s all I can tell you right now”.
So where will this all end up? How versatile a defender are the Steelers really going to try to turn Peterson into? Working in the slot, sure, that’s understandable. It’s not like he’s never done it before. Even work on the back end is more than reasonable. But how much further could they go?
I suppose he can blitz more. That’s not something he has done something very much of over the course of his career, but it is something the Steelers ask of their slot defenders—if they can manage it. Mike Hilton could. Peterson should be able to, but it takes a certain instinct to get it right.
I can’t really see them asking him to play in the box a lot the way Troy Polamalu did in the latter stages of his career—beyond that, I’m not really sure what else they could conceivably envision him doing. There’s only so much a particular body type can reasonably do.
The most important ingredient in this experiment, I have to say, is Peterson’s willingness to go along with it and take it as far as it can go. Based on earlier comments this offseason, he expects that it will help him prolong his career—maybe even encourage him to keep playing longer than he had planned.
One does have to wonder just how much we’re going to see before we get into the regular season, though. He joked that he doesn’t know how many teams might be watching the broadcast, so he didn’t want to give too much away. As fans, we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of “ball player” the Steelers are looking to get out of him this year.
