Patrick Peterson has not been great, but he is showing some versatility in Pittsburgh
Patrick Peterson was billed as a big free agent addition this past offseason. He brought leadership with him at the start, but the Steelers signed him for reasons beyond that. They expected him to be a top cornerback first to lighten the expectations on Joey Porter Jr. That did not pan out at the start of the year.
Once Porter entered the lineup, Peterson started to show signs of progress. Training camp teased Peterson as being a potential flexible option to play around the secondary. That did not happen until later in the season. Most of the reasoning behind that was due to a slew of injuries at safety.
Peterson has been at the safety spot for a couple of weeks now. He is a smart veteran player who is willing to do whatever possible to stay on the field. He seems eager to make the transition over from cornerback to safety. His move has come with some positive and negative results. It has not been a perfect transition.
He has started to play better down the stretch but he needs to fix his tackling woes to cement a spot at safety or in the slot. Peterson is a nice piece to have in the room as a leader, but he needs to keep his arrow pointing up from now on. Hopefully, his age isn't too much of a challenge to overcome at this point in his career.