Arizona Cardinals’ Patrick Peterson would take Hall of Fame jacket over Super Bowl ring
Jan 29, 2015, 4:57 PM | Updated: 5:42 pm
Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals has been in the NFL for four seasons and has certainly made his mark on the game.
He’s played in four Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro in his rookie season of 2011 as a punt returner.
In 2014, Peterson helped the Cardinals to an 11-5 record and their first playoff berth since 2009. The 24-year-old, who is the highest-paid cornerback in the league, has only scratched the surface of what he’s capable of doing on a football field.
Peterson joined Doug and Wolf Thursday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and talked about his future in the game. More specifically, if he’d rather win a Super Bowl or cap his career with an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“I’d probably go with the gold jacket,” Peterson said. “The simple fact is you’d be remembered forever. As a Super Bowl champ, you’d be remembered forever, as well. But the gold jacket, that’s a very small fraternity to get into — I believe it’s in the mid-260s.
“There are a couple hundred busts in the Hall of Fame out of God knows how many players. That’s not a very big number, so I’d rather be in that group than the Super Bowl group, but it would be nice to take home both of them.”
To get to the level that he wants to achieve, Peterson admitted he needs to be a more consistent player. The 2014 season was an uneven one for him. He had great games against some elite receivers — Dallas’ Dez Bryant and Detroit’s Calvin Johnson — but also struggled in games. Atlanta’s Julio Jones abused Peterson and the Cardinals’ defense to the tune of 10 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown in the Falcons’ 29-18 win.
“I had some ups and downs and battled some injuries and things like that,” Peterson said. “And that comes with the territory of the game, as a football player and as an athlete, those are some of the things you have to fight through.
“As far as my performance, I’d be the first to tell you I’m not a guy who is always high on myself, but when I do see something that needs to be fixed, I try to attack it. It’s all coming down to consistency. I wanted to be a little bit more consistent this year, but like I said, injuries and things can counter that and slow you down, and that’s what happened this year.”
