A decade with the Cardinals’ defense
CB Peterson: No need to prove anything
As cornerback Peterson begins his 10th season with the team, he reflects on the wisdom he’s gained.
Friday brought a lot of news for the Cardinals cornerbacks. In the morning, the team announced it had signed cornerback B.W. Webb. In the afternoon, it announced the signing of Ken Crawley, along with officially putting Robert Alford (chest) on the injured reserve.
With all the movement and with the new faces, the Cardinals look to the oldest one in the cornerback room: Patrick Peterson, back for his 10th season, all with Arizona.
Peterson, who turned 30 in July, has been a cornerstone of this defense for years. And he recognizes that having a second year with coordinator Vance Joseph benefits all players on the defense as far as that consistency, himself included.
“Having an opportunity to play in a system two years straight, you get a little bit more comfortable,” he said Friday.
“You know what you can get away with, you understand your leverage a little bit more, the terminology, the different tools that you can use to put yourself
in a better position. It’s been great for me. I have a full understanding of this defense now. Obviously, I know my role, it’s just being more comfortable with calls definitely helps you play faster.”
Peterson missed the first six weeks of the season last year, and with that, the level of full comfort that comes with being immersed each day in a defense took a bit.
He is aware of those who say he “may have lost a step,” perhaps because of that hiatus, but he disagrees.
Instead, he acknowledges that players may have to work harder during the offseason as they get older, and that he abided by that himself. And he says he did that to prepare for himself and his teammates, versus setting out to rewrite others’ opinions.
“I don’t necessarily feel like I need to prove anything,” Peterson said. “I just think some people forgot what I bring to the table, what I bring to this team and what I mean to the cornerback position.”
The team certainly knows what he can bring, having missed him early on last season and being hyper-aware of how important each cornerback is in the wake of Alford’s injury.
Byron Murphy, who started all 16 games as a rookie last season, was especially looking forward to having Alford back, as it would have allowed him to spend more time at nickel. The situation is not ideal, but Peterson feels good about however the Cardinals use Murphy.
“I have all the trust in the world in Murphy can play outside (or) inside,” Peterson said.
“But honestly, I know wherever we put Murphy, he’s going to be excellent. He’s a great inside guy. And he’s gained more and more confidence throughout this camp being outside, making a ton of plays outside.”
Coach Kliff Kingsbury is still working through all options. Webb was practicing with the team Friday. Crawley will join soon, too.
“With Rob going down, we wanted to bring in some more guys to take a look at,” Kingsbury said, when asked about Webb in particular. “He’s played a very high level in this league in the nickel and so we’ll see how that kind of plays out for him.”
Kingsbury says he likes the group they have right now, though in general he likes to keep options open as far as looking at guys who can add depth to the team.
Either way, the Cardinals are still working through who will play opposite Peterson. Once they settle on that, the defense wants to build off how it finished last season. Other additions to the roster help there, and Peterson wants to get right back to that late-season level of play.
“Going through that five-game stretch at the end of the season, I believe the team really, really started to come together speaking on the defensive side of the ball,” Peterson said. “So hopefully that can carry over into his 2020 to 2021 season. And we’ll just have to wait to see where it takes us.”