It’s Time for Cardinals to Embrace Patrick Peterson Again
When longtime NFL players retire, whether they’re bound for Canton, Ohio, or they simply spent many seasons with one franchise, it’s considered a great honor to retire with a team of your choosing.
Rarely it isn’t ever awkward… But that won’t be the case after Patrick Peterson announced his intentions to retire with the Arizona Cardinals.
You could cut the tension with a knife.
There have been a few times in NFL history where a player of Peterson‘s caliber burned his bridge with the franchise who gave him a chance like he has done with the Cardinals… The divorce was so ugly that Peterson has become one of the most controversial players in Arizona sports history.
Flashback to the 2011 NFL Draft where the Cardinals made the LSU superstar the fifth overall selection in a draft class that would go down as one of the greatest ever. Several Hall of Famer’s were taken in the first round, let alone the top 10, and Peterson was among those — or at least he will be eventually.
It took no time at all for Peterson to make his presence felt in the desert. Peterson eventually captured the league record for return touchdowns in a single season including a heart-stopping 99 yard punt return in overtime against the St. Louis Rams (Humble brag — I was in attendance at that game and the intensity in that stadium was unmatched).
As many would expect, Peterson‘s rookie season had it highs and lows as he adjusted to the pros. Few positions have a steeper learning curve from college to the NFL then cornerback and Peterson was humble at times to go with moments of brilliance.
But starting his second year in the league, he would become one of the most feared lockdown corners in all of football.
In what could be defined as a golden age of cornerbacks, Peterson was at or near the top of the crop; he was the unquestioned face of the era that included others like Richard Sherman, Darrelle Revis, and Stephon Gilmore.
To go along with his absolutely exceptional football skills, Peterson was a charming and charismatic individual who is easy to love. If you went to a Cardinals game and fans weren’t wearing a #11 Larry Fitzgerald jersey, they were rocking a #21 Peterson jersey
Peterson‘s tenure with the team started getting a little bit more complicated towards the end, however.
The star corner was suspended six games to start the 2018 season for PED use. Obviously, fans weren’t happy.
Juat before the trade deadline, Peterson requested a trade from the Cardinals. He posted on Twitter his frustrations with how the season had gone, but that he would continue to fight for the team.
Eventually, Peterson apologized for his trade request and said he was all in.
And then there was the infamous line that he left, “my boys told me to watch out for snakes in the grass” on Instagram… It went about as well as you would think.
Eventually, Peterson left the desert and spent time with different teams, including the Vikings and Steelers. It seemed like a forgone conclusion Peterson and the Cardinals would never rekindle their relationship.
Of course, that appears to be ancient history after Peterson’s announcement to retire with the franchise.
Fans have been very mixed on their opinions of this decision. In one sense, many are still very angry and bitter about the way things were left off. But on the other side, you have fans who recognize how great of a player he was during his time with Arizona and were happy to see the two sides mend the bridge.
I don’t believe anyone is wrong for being on either side of the argument. Like I said earlier, Peterson and the Cardinals’ split was one of the ugliest I have ever seen between two franchises. Fans are still incredibly better and they have every right to be.
I also do believe that at some point bygones should be bygones. A player who had as much success as Peterson did with one team should be immortalized. And that’s the direction that we will go — right, wrong, or indifferent.
Personally, I’m just happy that everything will be coming to an end and hopefully the reception and reunion with him and the fans will go over smoothly.
Wounds take time to heal, and they have done no healing since Peterson left because he never made any attempts to apologize to fans. He’ll have a long way to go to win the disgruntled supporters back over and it should absolutely be that way.
I only hope that eventually things will be settled, and when his name inevitably is inducted into the Cardinals Ring of Honor it will be met with a great, positive reception without any criticism or controversy.
The saga has come to an end — the time for parties to forgive and forget has begun. Peterson has a lot of work to do, but fans can hopefully soften their hardened hearts towards one of the greatest players in franchise history, and certainly one of the best since the team arrived in the desert.
