Patrick Peterson has ‘couple teams on the hook’ before new league year

It appears that cornerback Patrick Peterson wants to hear directly from his suitors when the NFL’s new league year begins officially at 1 p.m. MST Wednesday.

That, or any offers on the table hours before the sport’s calendar flips aren’t enticing enough.

The Arizona Cardinals’ impending free agent said on his All Things Covered podcast released Wednesday morning that he’s not yet made a decision on where he’ll play next year.

“Just taking it a day at a time. The thing I do know is that I’ll be playing somewhere this season,” Peterson said. “At the end of the day, control what I can control. That’s being patient and just waiting ’til the right team give me that call.

“We got a couple teams on the hook right now, don’t want to say who. It should happen pretty quickly so stay tuned.”

Teams like the Cardinals had the past two days to come to terms with free agents through agents only — Larry Fitzgerald is an exception because he represents himself. That allowed Arizona to lock in several of their own free agents like edge rusher Markus Golden and right tackle Kelvin Beachum, along with a handful of key special teams players.

But Wednesday allows them to directly reach out to players like Peterson who might want to hear from teams directly about how they’ll be used and the organizational direction.

On Tuesday afternoon, he posted a picture of himself in a Cardinals uniform with “Mood” attached to it. He followed it up admitting it wasn’t a sign he’d made a decision to return to Arizona.

Mood 🤙🏾 pic.twitter.com/zGZM8keO53

— Patrick Peterson /P2 (@P2) March 16, 2021

Just a dope pic. 🤣

— Patrick Peterson /P2 (@P2) March 16, 2021

So it appears the 30-year-old Peterson is taking in his first free agency process after posting 61 tackles, three interceptions and eight passes defensed last year.

Peterson’s podcast co-host, former defensive back Bryant McFadden, laid out his guess of four teams that might be in pursuit of the soon-to-be free agent.

“My number one would be the Arizona Cardinals trying to lock you back up in the desert. I think that only makes sense, right?” McFadden said. “My number two would be the New York Jets. They have a lot of funds available and they need to spend that money. I think bringing in an elite guy like yourself, a veteran leader, would immediately change their locker room.

“My number three, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that only makes sense because Bruce Arians loves you like a child … and that’s your home state. That’s huge,” McFadden added. “The last team — and knowing how the free agent market works in the National Football League — there’s always a team in your division, there’s always a sleeper team in your division that always tries to take a player from an opposing team.”

That would be the San Francisco 49ers, McFadden said, before adding that he was excited to find out how close his guesses are to reality.

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