The Pittsburgh Steelers signed future Hall of Fame CB Patrick Peterson last offseason to a two-year contract. Whether he sees the second year of that deal remains to be seen. In the past week, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argued that he should not.
Peterson will be 34 years old next season. He is due $3.8 million in base salary and another $3 million in the form of a roster bonus due in March. Yet it’s not immediately clear where he would play—which is part of the problem.
“The bottom line with Peterson is you can’t ask him to play outside anymore at his age”, Fittipaldo argued in a recent chat session, “and while he might be able to play safety on a full-time basis, they already have Minkah Fitzpatrick in that role. Peterson just doesn’t fit as a strong safety”.
There may be some truth to this. But there is also truth to the lack of proven depth at the cornerback position. Right now, you basically have Joey Porter Jr. and nobody else if you want to cut Peterson. Levi Wallace and James Pierre are unrestricted free agents, and apparently nobody wants Wallace re-signed. Pierre has been relegated to little more than special teams duty for years.
Do you really want to tie your hopes to Cory Trice Jr., a rookie seventh-round pick who tore his ACL in training camp? He already had a concerning injury history, which is why he was available so late in the draft. Darius Rush, another rookie they acquired in-season, hardly saw the field after his Steelers debut.
That doesn’t mean one or both of them can’t go on to become great players. But it does mean that you have no assurances of them even being worthy of a roster spot in 2024. Maybe they will be, maybe they won’t be. But you might want to have a better sense of that before making drastic moves.
At the same time, that is not to say that you need to hold onto Peterson. If you don’t feel like he can hang outside anymore and you don’t have a spot at safety, $6.8 million is a lot to pay for that. You could release him and try to find another solution on the open market.
Peterson played his most diverse role of his career in 2023 with the Steelers. Aside from starting the last few games at safety due to injuries, he also played a good amount in the slot and near the line of scrimmage.
Perhaps there is enough meat on the bone for him to continue in that Joker role. The fact that he could line up anywhere has value itself. And he could perhaps transition into a nickel defender as his primary position. They are not spoiled for riches there.
Still, it is a serious question that head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged the Steelers have to weigh. The decision to sign him was based on Cameron Sutton pricing himself out of Pittsburgh. They will know the market and whether they can replace him economically. If not, they will have to find another way. Perhaps a restructure, extension, or some other means of lowering his cap hit.
