The Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback situation was up in the air going into the 2023 season. They lost some key pieces in Cameron Sutton and Arthur Maulet and replaced them with unproven rookies, and veterans like Patrick Peterson who were past their prime.
Going into 2024, there is a little more clarity on the position. Joey Porter Jr. is a legit NFL starter and will hold down one-half of the field this season. Beyond him, however, is a lot of question marks. There are guys with potential, sure, but no one you feel great about relying on beyond Porter.
The question then becomes – is there a backup plan? One potential safety plan would be to bring back Patrick Peterson, who is still a free agent.
Steelers insider Mark Kaboly was on The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan and talked about the possibility of the team being interested in Peterson.
“I think he could be. It all depends on what happens in training camp. See if Cory Trice can be able to play, see how Donte Jackson [plays], see if anybody gets hurt.” Kaboly said. “He’s one of those guys where you can easily make the call and say, ‘come on in here and we need you.’ But if you don’t need him, then why grab him right now? I think that goes with a lot of those guys across the board. Those are guys who are not top of the priority lists right now, but they might become pretty important here come late August.
Is Peterson going to have a sudden return to form? No, almost certainly not. But you know what you get from him at this point, and he does know the system. If you do go through training camp, and everyone outside of Porter performs below expectations, it would make a lot of sense to bring back Peterson.
A big difference in his expectations from 2023 to 2024 would be that you’d be bringing him in knowing he’s not going to be able to hack it on the outside anymore. There was some optimism that he could provide some snaps there in 2023, but he quickly turned into almost exclusively a slot corner, something he has admitted would be his role should he suit up again.
Patrick Peterson is no longer a sexy name or signing. But NFL defenses often can be hampered by their weak links. And while he certainly had his weak moments last season, we at least know he provides a veteran presence out on the field. For this team, that might be all it takes to get a call back come August.
