The Vikings landed their splashy free agent signing last week when they signed former All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson. It didn’t take long for fans to catch a glimpse of Peterson wearing purple, as he showed up to TCO Performance Center in a purple suit.
Peterson addressed the media for the first time since signing in Minnesota and had a lot of positive things to say about his new team. He spoke highly of Vikings HC Mike Zimmer and the other careers he’s helped touch at the cornerback position.
“I thought Coach Zim itself stood out to me. His reputation speaks for itself. The things that he’s able to do with the defense, not only with the defense but with defensive backs. [I’m] speaking of Deion Sanders, Leon Hall, Terrence Newman and Jonathan Joseph, the list goes on,” Peterson said. “He’s able to help further those guys’ careers. If you look at all of those guys’ careers, they’ve played 13 or 14 plus years. So, Coach Zim definitely has something that he’s giving those guys to not only help prepare their career into new heights but to also help their career be a longevity career as well. The culture around here, the atmosphere around here was everything for me. I believe it definitely checked off all the boxes, I’m excited to be here and I’m excited to get rolling.”
At 30 years old, Peterson mentioned several times that he feels as if there’s a lot of gas left in the tank. He said that his goal was to play 16 seasons in the NFL with 2021 marking the 11th season of his career.
There have been reports circulating that Peterson was willing to play safety as well, but he said on Monday that he plans on being utilized at cornerback. This will not only give the team another option at cornerback, but it provides veteran leadership that the unit missed in 2020.
Peterson’s LSU days were brought up and he touched on his relationship with Justin Jefferson.
“I’ve known Justin [Jefferson] since he was 10 or 11 years old. What Justin was able to achieve in the league it’s no surprise. I’ve seen him do all of the route running, catching the ball with one hand right outside of our apartment complex WCA in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” Peterson said. “To see him achieve the goals and accolades that he has achieved thus far in his young NFL career is no surprise.”
KFAN's Paul Allen mentioned last week that the Vikings’ front office was ecstatic about this signing, and that’s no surprise after watching his first press conference in Minnesota. Peterson brings in much-needed veteran leadership to a defense that was the worst in the Zimmer era in 2020.
Here is the link to the full press conference:
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