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Appearing on NFL Network, cornerback Patrick Peterson — formerly of the Minnesota Vikings and now a free agent — spoke about what he’s looking for in his next team as he tests out free agency at age 31.
“I know that I am older, and in this game a lot of GMs want younger guys,” Peterson said. “But I can still play at a high level. So at the end of the day, I just don’t want to be disrespected. Just give me “something” that’s respectable, I can go out there and play at a high level and give it my all to wherever team I land on to try and win a championship.”
The “something” Peterson, an eight-time Pro Bowler, was referring to is money.
The three-time All-Pro cornerback expressed his desire to re-join the Vikings, whom he signed a one-year deal with last offseason. However, Peterson also said he’d like to play for the Chiefs.
“Kansas City I don’t think would be a bad spot,” he said. Peterson also mentioned the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles as other teams he would like to join as well.
Heading into free agency, the Chiefs were roughly $10.6 million over the cap, according to Over The Cap. However, the front office restructured defensive end Frank Clark’s contract, which lowered his cap number from $23.2 million to $13.7 million, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. That in turn free up $12.6 million in cap room for Kansas City, per Yates.
Simple math shows that the Chiefs don’t have very much spending money. However, giving wide receiver Tyreek Hill a contract extension, which the team is “deep in talks” about, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, would free up more money, among other potential cap maneuvers.
Given his age and decline in ability, the Chiefs could offer Peterson no more than a one-year, prove-it deal, much like the Vikings did in 2021. Minnesota gave Peterson $10 million in that deal. A year later and after recording just a 63.0 overall grade from PFF for the 2021 season, Kansas City’s best offer to Peterson — if they were at all interested in him — shouldn’t be more than $5-7 million.
From that point, the Chiefs would have to hope that Peterson would bring a higher level of play than we’ve seen the last couple of years from him, which would make his contract worthwhile as Kansas City attempts to contend for another championship.
Unfortunately, that type of money likely wouldn’t be enough to get Peterson to sign with the Chiefs. Later in his interview on NFL Network, after he discussed his preferred destinations, Peterson had two words to describe what will ultimately coax him to sign with any team this offseason.
“Money talks.”
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