Cornerback Patrick Peterson remains a free agent, three weeks after the Steelers cut him.
He has not lost hope of signing somewhere.
“Me and my agent have had conversations with a couple teams,” Peterson said on the NFL on Fox podcast. Nothing really serious thus far, but there has been conversations. . . . We’ll see what happens in the next couple months.”
Peterson, 33, has not made the Pro Bowl since 2018, his eighth in a row, and has played for three teams since then. He made 42 tackles, two interceptions and 11 passes defensed last season.
“I do feel like I still have a lot left in the tank and can provide, not only leadership, but playmaking ability to whatever team desires to have me on their roster,” Peterson said. “At this point and stage in my career, going through the free-agent process, I’m just taking it a day at a time.”
Peterson lined up at free safety on 225 snaps in Pittsburgh last season and another 117 of his 844 total snaps were in the box. But he sees himself as a corner still and expressed reluctance at moving to safety full time.
“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. As corners, we’re used to knifing in and slicing guys down. When you’re in the open field as a safety, especially if you’re in the middle of the field, that guy’s got 24 yards right and 24 yards left of you. There ain’t no way to cut him off by any means. You’re the last line of defense. So if that is something, I would need notice and probably, you know, get one of these old-time safeties like an Ed Reed or [Troy] Polamalu to coach me up.”
Peterson is the active leader in interceptions with 36.
He hopes he will get a chance for one more season.
“If that was the last ride, I’d hate for it to be, because I always set the goal out for myself to play 14 years, but we still have time and we’ll see what happens,” Peterson said.