Tuesday evening, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson announced on Twitter that he had signed a new 5-year contract, potentially worth $70 million. Peterson is a great cornerback, so this locks in quality talent in the Arizona Cardinals secondary. Of course, as 49ers fans I think many of us would love to see Michael Crabtree re-sign and then spend the next five years continuing to beat Peterson over and over again.
Last weekend, word got out that the Cardinals had relieved Peterson of his punt return duties. This followed earlier reports that he would not be used on offense as he had in the past. Peterson is a gifted athlete, but it makes sense to just let him focus on cornerback work. Michael Crabtree's domination aside, Patrick Peterson is a great cornerback, and focusing on just that role could very well help him get better. And of course, it lowers the number of opportunities for stupid injuries. Any football player can get hurt, but keeping him out of any sort of iron man role is probably a good thing.
This is not a huge story, but I decided to post something on it for two reasons. The first was to show the picture above. That might be my favorite picture on the story editor. It is from a punt return back in 2011. Peterson fumbled the ball, and was absolutely buried by the 49ers special teams. That special teams group, the first of the Tony Montana squad, was a fun one, and it seemed like every game the coverage units were making multiple huge stops.
The other reason for posting is to post this video of Crabtree shaking Peterson out of his cleats. Hopefully we see more of this for more than just the next year.