{"id":79706,"date":"2024-01-26T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T15:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nflklinh.playsetmusic.com\/?p=79706"},"modified":"2024-01-26T15:33:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T15:33:13","slug":"steelers-patrick-peterson-appears-to-deliver-uncertain-message-on-nfl-future-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/steelers-patrick-peterson-appears-to-deliver-uncertain-message-on-nfl-future-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers\u2019 Patrick Peterson Appears to Deliver Uncertain Message on NFL Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran cornerback\u00a0Patrick Peterson\u00a0has left little doubt that he will return for the 2024 NFL season. But in his latest tweet, Peterson didn\u2019t seem 100% confident that it will be with the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1699567680-copy.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Patrick Peterson\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Peterson addressed his NFL future on his X (formerly Twitter) account on January 25.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn control of my Destiny, Never in Doubt..,\u201d\u00a0wrote Peterson.<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_1_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-1 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"CPLZw9Sp-4MDFX5LwgUdc8AMcw\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cYEAR 13, Thank You!!! Continuing to persevere while balancing various roles. What lies ahead?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYear 14\u2026 Be Back soon\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In Control of my Destiny, Never in Doubt.. <\/p>\n<p>YEAR 13, THANK YOU!!! Continuing to persevere while balancing various roles. What lies ahead? \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f\ud83c\udfacYear 14\u2026 Be Back soon\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UiuZeozhIa\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/UiuZeozhIa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Patrick Peterson \/P2 (@P2) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/P2\/status\/1750644312424239578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 25, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Peterson spent his first season with the Steelers during 2023. It produced mixed results.<\/p>\n<p>While Peterson was a strong locker room presence and mentor to rookie cornerback\u00a0Joey Porter Jr., his play was inconsistent. He is also now five years removed from his last Pro Bowl season and\u00a0will turn 34 in July.<\/p>\n<p>For those reasons and his $9.775 million cap hit, NFL pundits have floated Peterson as a possible cut candidate early this offseason.<\/p>\n<h2>Patrick Peterson Under Contract for the 2024 Season<\/h2>\n<p>When the Steelers signed Peterson to a two-year contract last offseason, the deal was backloaded. That helped Pittsburgh create more salary cap space for 2023, but the team will pay for it now.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023,\u00a0Peterson held\u00a0a $4.225 million cap hit. It\u2019s difficult to speculate, but if the veteran had that cap hit again next season, he\u2019d have a much better chance to remain on the team.<\/p>\n<p>But instead, Peterson\u2019s cap hit will more than double for 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Still, cutting Peterson probably isn\u2019t a guarantee, especially early in the offseason, because of the cornerback depth the Steelers lack heading into next season. Fellow cornerbacks\u00a0Levi Wallace,\u00a0James Pierre,\u00a0Chandon Sullivan\u00a0and\u00a0Elijah Riley\u00a0will all be free agents in March.<\/p>\n<p>Besides Peterson, Porter is the only Steelers cornerback currently under contract wh0\u00a0played more than 50 defensive snaps in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>If the Steelers find additional cornerback depth, Peterson could still have a role with the team at safety.\u00a0At the end of December,\u00a0Peterson mentioned switching to safety\u00a0as a possibility to prolong his career.<\/p>\n<p>Peterson played some safety at the end of the regular season because of injuries and a suspension the Steelers had at the position.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Peterson is a Potential Cut Candidate<\/h2>\n<p>Still, any argument with Peterson\u2019s future in Pittsburgh seems to end with his contract. The Steelers could\u00a0save $6.85 million\u00a0against the salary cap if they cut the veteran cornerback.<\/p>\n<p>According to Spotrac, the Steelers sit more than $14 million over the salary cap as of January 26. The team is going to have to make significant cuts and\/or restructure contracts to make room to sign free agents.<\/p>\n<p>If Peterson was guaranteed to make a smooth transition to safety, then keeping him with his cap hit would be more likely. But\u00a0based on his Pro Football Focus player grades, Peterson didn\u2019t shine at safety.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers also aren\u2019t expected to be hurting for depth at safety in 2024.\u00a0Minkah Fitzpatrick,\u00a0Damontae Kazee,\u00a0Keanu Neal\u00a0and\u00a0Trenton Thompson\u00a0are\u00a0all under contract for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh could also pursue bringing back veteran safety\u00a0Eric Rowe, who was a key member of the team\u2019s practice squad at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>All of this makes Peterson\u2019s future uncertain. He appeared to express that uncertainty on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran cornerback\u00a0Patrick Peterson\u00a0has left little doubt that he will return for the 2024 NFL season. But in his latest tweet, Peterson didn\u2019t seem 100% confident that it&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}