When CB Patrick Peterson signed his two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the intent was to make him a chess piece throughout the secondary. Not to be *just* the outside corner he had been throughout his career. But to move around and utilize his high football IQ while masking the loss of speed that comes with a 33-year-old corner trying to squeeze out a few more years in the league.
For much of the season, it hasn’t felt like that. Peterson has played a lot on the outside at left corner while bumping to the slot in dime packages, allowing rookie Joey Porter Jr. on the field. But Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Rams had a different tone. Peterson moved all around the defense, playing all three corner spots, safety, and a dime backer rep. Speaking to reporters during his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin said the vision is for Peterson to have the same role as the man he replaced, Cam Sutton.
“That’s why we brought Pat here,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel. “Pat’s a veteran player, he’s smart. If you remember, we moved Cam Sutton around a lot. Essentially he is Cam Sutton. And so position flexibility was an attractive component to the acquisition of him.”
As we noted this morning, here is a breakdown of Peterson’s 62 snaps.
Slot Corner: 31
Left Corner: 15
Right Corner: 13
Free Safety: 2
Dime Backer: 1
It was easily the highest number of slot snaps he played all season. And they didn’t all just come in dime. Peterson rotated with slot corner Chandon Sullivan in nickel packages with Sullivan playing on more early/run downs and Peterson getting additional looks in passing situations against the Rams’ top three wide receivers. But his role stretched beyond that, and the team used him as a safety in some “big base” packages with three corners and one safety along with post-snap rotations, like this one he had late in the game.
Sutton occupied that hyper-versatile role over his final two years with the Steelers. While he served as a starting outside corner, he kicked inside to the slot in passing situations after beginning his career as a dime/sixth defensive back option, working his way up the ladder and earning a contract extension. But he evidently priced himself out of Pittsburgh and signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Detroit Lions. Not only was the average yearly value apparently too steep, as Dave Bryan has laid out, Sutton received a large chunk of second-year base-salary guarantees, something the Steelers don’t offer to non-elite players like T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Now, Peterson will try to get comfortable in that role, especially as Joey Porter Jr. sees more playing time and essentially starter snaps. The good news is it’s a role he seems to embrace.
