Patrick Peterson, the Purple People Eater

After 10 years, there will be no more Patrick Peterson in an Arizona Cardinals uniform.

After a pretty good career with the Arizona Cardinals, Patrick Peterson is suiting up for the Minnesota Vikings next season. Peterson burst onto the scene as a rookie, having four punt return touchdowns in a season, tying him with Ollie Mattson for the most by a return man in team history.

From there we all know he elevated his game and became one of the top cornerbacks in the league. And he was expected to continue that into the 2019 season. But a six game suspension for PEDs ended up being the catalyst that would ultimately lead to his departure from Arizona.

A lot of fans were burned by the fact that their franchise corner tested positive for PEDs. When Patrick Peterson did come back from all of this, he just wasn’t the same player. It seems like he wasn’t the every-down shut down player that he was. Looking at the 2020 season, he was getting burned by guys who were buried on the depth chart, and his play was so sporadic.

While it is a good thing to not be thrown at in your career as a corner, I always felt he should have had a lot more interceptions than what he ended up with. Maybe it was because he was following the number one receiver the whole time (*cough* unlike Richard Sherman *cough*) did for most of his career, while Peterson was in his prime it was definitely a source of debate. But now we see that Sherman has been more consistent than Peterson has in his career.

Some fans will miss Peterson and the good plays and memories that he brought us. While there is a part of that in myself, I just knew it was time to move on. With especially how the last two years went, he wasn’t going to come back unless it was just like the deal he got with Minnesota.

But after asking for a trade and then the drama that came with that, laughing on the sidelines during the middle of the 58-0  Loss to the Seahawks in 2012, and his decline of play in the last season make this the completely right thing to do for the organization.

Best of luck in Minnesota, Patrick. Maybe we’ll see you in the playoffs someday.