Deion Sanders thinks Patrick Peterson is still ‘trying to escape’ Cardinals
Nov 29, 2018, 11:20 AM | Updated: 2:14 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
A year after saying that Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson was frustrated in Arizona, former NFL star Deion Sanders was proven right.
Peterson’s demands for a trade leaked on Oct. 22 of 2018, and the cornerback didn’t deny the request. So after his feelings were made public and a meeting with team leaders, including owner Michael Bidwill, the Pro Bowler reaffirmed his commitment to the Cardinals. He said the trade demands came out of frustration.
Just a month after that, Sanders is lighting the rumor mill on fire again.
Peterson, he believes, is still looking for a way out of Arizona, even after the Cardinals star recommitted to his current team.
During a debate about the Saints on Thursday while visiting ESPN’s “First Take”, Sanders said he wished New Orleans had traded for Peterson instead of making a deal to acquire former Giants corner Eli Apple.
RELATED STORIES
“He’s just being wasted there in Arizona,” Sanders said.
Asked by co-host Stephen A. Smith about what it means that Peterson said he wanted to remain with the Cardinals, Sanders held his ground.
“That was business, man. That was business,” Sanders said. “He knew he couldn’t get out. He’s trying to escape. Trust me. I know.”
When asked about Sanders’ comments after Cardinals practice on Wednesday, Peterson first tried to evade the question. After being pressed, he said that he didn’t have anything to do with what the former NFL star said.
“I can’t control what’s coming out of Deion’s mouth,” Peterson said. “He’s doing his job. That’s his job to answer questions and I guess that’s how he felt … I had nothing to do with that.”
Sanders ended up being proved correct when he first broke word of Peterson’s apparent dissatisfaction in October of 2017. During a telecast of the NFL Network show “21st and Prime,” he said Peterson was frustrated.
Months later and just before the 2018 trade deadline, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Peterson was pushing hard for a trade out of Arizona with two years left on his contract.
“We’re in a good place,” Peterson said two days later. “We’ll move forward from what happened the other day. I certainly think we have a clear understanding. I have two years left on my contract. I’m here.”
Now the trade deadline has passed. Peterson can’t be moved for the rest of the season.
What happens beyond that is hard to say, though he did say he’d like to leave an impression on the organization like longtime-Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald.
“I want to follow that man’s shoes, he’s been here forever, 15 years, and being a cornerstone of this Arizona Cardinal organization, I feel like I’m next in line, so we’ll see what happens,” Peterson said.
