Patrick Peterson’s statement should put trade rumors to rest
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs and other teams hopeful that Patrick Peterson might be available on the trade market were likely disappointed by his recent statement.
Patrick Peterson has never missed a single game for the Arizona Cardinals. It doesn’t sound like he’s going to leave them anytime soon either, given the most recent statement made after news broke of his suspension.
On Thursday, the NFL decided to punish Peterson for violating the league’s policy against use of performance-enhancing drugs with a six-game suspension. The move came as a shock to everyone for a few reasons. First, Peterson has never been in an ounce of trouble at any level. Second, he’s a future Hall of Famer who has made the Pro Bowl in every season of his career. Third, he’d been linked in recent trade rumors and his relationship with the team looked broken given recent social media posts. He also outright requested a trade last year.
Once the league levied a six-game suspension against Peterson, the star cornerback made an official statement of his own. In it, he made ti clear that he had patched things up with the organization. He certainly didn’t sound like a man going anywhere.
"“The relationship is great,” Peterson said. “I know you guys speculated, me erasing the pictures, but I had a lot going on. Now I want to have a new look. I want to put a lot more fashion pictures up there right now. Instagram can definitely promote life after football, so I wanted to put some more fashionable looks on there. .. But for the most part, our relationship is great. I had a conversation with Steve (Keim) earlier, so I’m just looking forward to moving forward.”"
There’s some wiggle room there for Peterson in that he said “for the most part” and his excuses for posting the pictures were shoved under the old “I had a lot going on” bed. Perhaps there’s still some rift that a team like the Kansas City Chiefs can exploit for a potential trade. But if Brett Veach or any other general manager was hoping to pry the All-Pro loose, it doesn’t sound like it’s happening anytime soon.
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Perhaps that is okay. After all, Peterson isn’t going to be playing anytime soon, at least until Week 7 when the Cardinals face the Giants. It’s also right around the trade deadline, so we’ll likely pick up the rumor mill then. That is, unless the Chiefs solve their perceived issues at cornerback before then.