Patrick Peterson’s situation more complicated for return to Steelers

From the moment the Pittsburgh Steelers released veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson at the start of the offseason, we speculated he is a perfect candidate to return to the team at some point. We also wondered if his best bet to return would be as a safety instead of a cornerback.

Peterson addressed this on the NFL on Fox Podcast and made it clear he does not want to return to the NFL as a safety.

I don’t want to start at safety because that’s a different animal back there,” Peterson said. “That’s a different view back there. If that is the case, I would need to be warned going into the season to get my body, my mental prepared. It’s different being at the safety from the cornerback position, having those open-field tackles.

In 2023, injuries forced Peterson to play a significant amount of safety for the Steelers. He played over 1,000 defensive snaps last season and nearly 1/3 of those were at safety in some capacity. While we appreciate what Peterson is saying about needing lead time, he played well at safety last season and a case can be made he was better at safety than he was at outside cornerback.