Instant reaction: Vikings sign veteran CB Patrick Peterson
Vikings make a surprising splash in free agency
By Matthew Coller
On the first official day of NFL free agency, the Minnesota Vikings made a big splash, signing veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson to a one-year, $10 million contract.
How good is Patrick Peterson?
In 2018, the long-time Arizona Cardinal was one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. He allowed just an 82.5 QB rating on throws in his direction and ranked fifth best in the league in coverage grade.
He has not been as effective over the last two years, ranking 43rd of 84 corners in coverage grade in 2019 and 63rd of 80 in 2020 by PFF grade.
Peterson gave up a 66.7% completion percentage into his coverage and a QB rating of 100.8 with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He also led the NFL in pass interference penalties last season.
The last two years were the first in Peterson’s career in which he gave up ratings over 100 when targeted.
Per PFF he still played the vast majority of his snaps at outside corner (940 of 1,096).
What does it mean for the secondary?
While rookie cornerbacks Jeff Gladney and Cam Dantzler showed flashes of potential in 2020, they are hardly finished products so it appears the Vikings’ aim in signing Peterson is to provide some stability to the cornerback group.
Gladney was asked to handle a huge role as a first-round pick, playing more snaps than every other rookie corner last year and spending significant time both inside at nickel and outside. Bringing Peterson aboard may allow Mike Zimmer to bump Gladney inside exclusively to the nickel position, where his skill set and size would seem to be a good fit. In years past, a first-round pick playing nickel might be a bad sign but Zimmer’s defense requires strong play out of the position as we’ve seen from Captain Munnerlyn, Terence Newman and Mackensie Alexander in recent seasons.
Dantzler showed potential as a playmaker and graded as the best rookie corner last year by PFF. The third-round pick’s injuries, however, would be enough of a concern that the Vikings would not want to rest the cornerback group’s fate on his shoulders. Zimmer said at the end of last year that Dantzler needs to bulk up after being injured three different times in 2020.
Peterson bumps Mike Hughes down the depth chart. Hughes has missed the majority of the first three seasons of his career, meaning that the Vikings can’t rely on him to take on a key role. They will likely hope that he returns healthy and mixes in as a rotational corner.
In an ideal scenario, Gladney and Dantzler would take steps forward and Hughes would prove that he can stay off injured reserve in his contract year.
Peterson’s signing also puts the developmental corners in a position to battle for depth roles and allows them a year to grow without the pressure of handling jobs that they are not ready to take on.
What does it mean for the draft and rest of free agency?
After signing Dalvin Tomlinson and Patrick Peterson, the Vikings will still have enough cap space to make another signing of around equal size or add a couple players on cheap contracts.
News came out on Wednesday that Tomlinson’s deal includes void years, which spread out his bonus and lower his salary cap hits to just $6 million and $7.5 million. It’s unclear exactly how much is left without a definitive answer yet on Adam Thielen restructuring his contract. If Thielen does re-work his deal to the maximum, the Vikings could still have around $10 million to work with. They could still restructure Danielle Hunter and sign Harrison Smith to an extension.
It seems unlikely that the Vikings will fill all of their needs — which include defensive end, guard, tackle, safety and WR3 — with quality free agents on the open market but there are numerous players remaining at each spot including players who could fit like DE Melvin Ingram, G Austin Blythe, S Anthony Harris, WR Adam Humphries etc.
Here’s a free agent tracker with all the recent signings.
As far as the draft goes, it stands to reason that the likelihood of the Vikings picking a first-round corner would decrease with the signing of Peterson. Things are lining up for the Vikings to take whatever immediate need they have left over from free agency.
Peterson is not likely a long-term solution though. At 31, he is probably hoping to play well and earn another big contract next year. That would open the door to the Vikings drafting developmental type cornerbacks in the third and fourth round to create more competition within a group that has Harrison Hand, Kris Boyd and Dylan Mabin as depth.
What does it mean for the direction?
If we wondered following the Tomlinson signing if the Vikings were pushing hard to win in 2021, we officially have our answer. Zimmer and Co. are doing everything to take a big leap forward next season on defense.
The Vikings could have elected to take shots on some younger free agents or players who would be cheaper. Instead they’re all-in on big-name signings.
Peterson’s contract is low risk from a long-term perspective because it’s only for 2021 but the risk involved is putting so much cap space into one older player.
Maybe Vikings are looking to repeat what they had with Terence Newman and hit on the second wave of Peterson’s career.
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Weird how "risky" this move feels given that that the guy is a future HOFer who is only 31. I'm guessing Peterson will play at least pretty well in Zimmer's scheme and, if they're lucky, teach a thing or two to the young guys. But if he's really fallen off a cliff and/or doesn't fit Zim's defense--one or the other or both is totally possible--you just blew a huge stack of free agent money and did not improve your CB room, nor are you likely to do so with fresh talent. Oddly, because Patrick Peterson has of course been incredible in the NFL, I'd be more hyped if they had announced "We signed Mackensie Alexander for $3 million; he'll play slot and we're going to put Gladney on the outside." Feels like, odds are, you get more out of a move like that.
Hopefully he will be a good mentor to the young players