When veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson first signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency on the first day of the new league year, he stated that his reasoning behind the move was the opportunity to move around defensively, play different roles, and just get a chance to be a true football player.
After years of being a lockdown, one-sided cornerback who really wasn’t tested much during his tenure in Arizona at the height of his powers as a future Hall of Fame cornerback, Peterson sought an opportunity to do something different.
Early in the year, those opportunities were few and far between, but on Sunday in Week Seven at SoFi Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams, Peterson got the chance to do what he was aiming for in Pittsburgh. Appearing on the latest episode of his podcast “All Things Covered” with co-host and cousin Bryant McFadden, Peterson stated that he was excited to get that opportunity Sunday.
Peterson played all over the defensive formation Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, five snaps came in the box, three at free safety, 29 snaps in the slot and 30 snaps at outside cornerback, playing 67 of a possible 68 snaps on the afternoon.
“So that was a plan all along for me to be, kind of like that joker when Joey’s on the field, having an opportunity to move inside, having an opportunity to play a little safety in certain personnels, being a nickel in certain situations, just being a corner, even in certain situations, be in the right corner in certain situations,” Peterson said to McFadden, according to audio via the show’s YouTube page. “I played right corner yesterday as well. I played right corner, nickel, left corner, a little safety. It was fun. And I had opportunity to tell [Mike Tomlin] after the game that it was fun getting the opportunity to play as many different positions that I did on the football field because now I feel like I’m a part of the game now.
“I’m just not just guarding one guy, running behind one guy. Now I can really try to set the quarterback up throughout the course of the game versus just playing corner when I just have one guy. It’s hard for me to disguise certain things, you know? So now I feel like I really make quarterbacks work when they see me in certain spots that they haven’t really seen me before.”
For years in Arizona, Peterson was arguably the best cornerback in football. Despite being a lockdown cornerback, he often felt like he wasn’t part of the game because he would take away one side of the field and quarterbacks wouldn’t even target receivers when he was in coverage.
That’s why he wanted to have the opportunity to move around late in his career, get a chance to make plays in different positions and really feel like a football player again.
That happened on Sunday. Though he had his second-worst PFF grade of the season at just 44.8 overall, including a 44.4 in coverage, Peterson had the opportunity to blitz four times on the afternoon and had three tackles. However, he did allow three receptions on four targets for 57 yards against the Rams with 36 of those yards coming after the catch.
He seems quite comfortable in the role overall, playing some positions he isn’t used to at this point in his career. His openness to change and his versatility helped the Steelers get rookie Joey Porter Jr. onto the field Sunday for a season-high 53 snaps (78%), which gave the Steelers a boost in the coverage department.
Sunday’s showing won’t be a one-off moving forward for Peterson and the Steelers, either. That was the plan when they brought him to Pittsburgh, and with Porter ready for a starting role, chances are Peterson will move around quite a bit moving forward to give quarterbacks different looks.
