The Enemy Wanted Patrick Peterson, Too.
It took two months to become official after the end of the Minnesota Vikings ill-fated 2021 season, but veteran All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson is returning to the franchise for an extra season.
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Peterson, who will be 32 in July, joins a Vikings cornerback room rapidly filling up after weeks of inactivity on that particular depth chart spot. In the last week, Chandon Sullivan, Nate Hairston, Tye Smith, and Peterson all affirmed commitment to the 2022 Kevin O’Connell-led Vikings.
Minnesota wasn’t the only ballclub vying for Peterson’s services. The hated and secondary-foe Chicago Bears also “made the call” on Peterson, in addition to the Bills, Buccaneers, Colts, and Commanders.
During the 2021 season, a lousy one for the Bears in Justin Field’s first campaign as quarterback, Chicago uncharacteristically floundered on defense, ranking 22nd in the NFL per defensive EPA/play — a wicked departure from the 2020 campaign when the Bears placed at 10th in the same metric.
On defense this offseason, the Bears lost Bilal Nichols (DE), Artie Burns (CB), and Teez Tabor (S) to free agency. Thankfully for their sake, Chicago’s front office hired a defensive-minded head coach — when the rest of the league is trending toward offense-first skippers — in Matt Eberflus from the Indianapolis Colts to pair with the aforementioned Fields. If the 2022 regular season started tonight, the Bears would start Jaylon Johson and Kindle Vildor at cornerback — probably why they called Peterson to gauge interest. Regardless, in theory, a defense-first coach should be able to guide the enterprise accordingly sans star-studded CB talent.
Similarly, before Wednesday, the Vikings were in rough shape at cornerback, too. Cameron Dantzler was slated as CB1 with Chandon Sullivan and “some other guy” manning the CB3 job. But with Peterson back in town, Dantzler can nestle back into a comfortable CB2 role as his maturation continues.
Still, even with Peterson returning to the Vikings, the team is forecasted to draft a cornerback early in the 2022 NFL Draft. Ahmad Gardner, Derek Stingley Jr., Trent McDuffie, and Andrew Booth Jr. are the names most commonly associated with Vikings mock drafts in March.
Peterson’s one-year extension is worth up to $4 million.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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