Over the past two years, the Pittsburgh Steelers have drafted a quarterback they watched work on their practice field for five years, a little brother they saw when they drafted big brother, and the son of a former player and coach who used to run around the field and the facility as a little boy.
He may be 33 years old now, but CB Patrick Peterson also has a long history of ties to the organization, long before finally signing with the Steelers as a free agent this offseason. It was about half a lifetime ago that he first met head coach Mike Tomlin through his cousin.
“Pat Pete, I think probably the first time I met him he was like in 12th grade or something”, he told Evan Washburn for CBS Sports yesterday. “Bryant McFadden played for us, was [Peterson’s] older cousin, and at the time B-Mac would be like, ‘Hey, Coach, you’re gonna know about my little cousin. You’re gonna know about my little cousin’. Like, he forced Pat Pete on me. I had to know who he was.
“And so, I know Pat Pete”.
A 12-year NFL veteran and a likely future Hall of Famer, Peterson is one of the individuals who have defined the cornerback position during that span. Though it never worked out before now, he has spoken on numerous occasions of long having wanted to play for the Steelers—and for Tomlin.
McFadden was actually drafted by Tomlin’s predecessor, Bill Cowher, in 2005, though he played most of his career under Tomlin. There’s a good chance Cowher already knew Peterson as well. They used to train with Tom Shaw down in Florida with other Steelers, most notably CB Ike Taylor, drafted in 2004.
Now Taylor is a scout for the organization and both he and Peterson are on the field after practice coaching up cornerback Joey Porter Jr. The 32nd overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft is a second-generation Steeler, his namesake father having played outside linebacker and later returning to coach the position.
The bond they’ve formed this offseason is everything Tomlin expected it to be thus far, though he surely never envisioned 15-plus years ago that the cousin of one of his cornerbacks would eventually be mentoring the son of one of his former assistants.
The Steelers almost always seem to have some type of meaningful prior relationship with all of the veterans of significance that they choose to add to their locker room. But then again, there probably aren’t a ton of players in the league who don’t have some kind of relationship with Tomlin given how well-traveled he can be on the scouting circuit. Everyone seems to have a Combine or Pro Day story about him.
No doubt Peterson has plenty of stories, but now he’s going to get to finish his career under Tomlin, so the story’s still being written. It was a long, long wait, but B-Mac’s talented little cousin is finally in the Black and Gold—wearing his old jersey number.
