The Kansas City Chiefs need another starting cornerback opposite of L’Jarius Sneed now that Charvarius Ward joined the San Francisco 49ers during free agency. And it just so happens that a defensive back with a strong resume has expressed his desire to play for the Chiefs on live television.
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.”
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The “something” Peterson 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.
Would Peterson Be Good Fit for Chiefs?
To evaluate if Peterson, an eight-time Pro Bowler, would be a good fit for Kansas City, let’s take a look at the Chiefs’ cap situation and what kind of offer they could/should offer him if the feeling is mutual between the two parties.
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.
Under terms of his restructured deal with the Chiefs, Frank Clark’s 2022 cap number is now $13.7M.
Kansas City freed up $12.6M in cap space with the move.
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 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 $6-8 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.”
Twitter Reacts to Peterson’s Interest in Chiefs
Twitter users reacted to Peterson expressing interest in joining Kansas City.
“It’s 2022 and Chiefs Kingdom is talking about Patrick Peterson and Julio Jones Brush the dust off those old Mo Chanel tweets, turns out they might be right!,” one Twitter user wrote.
It’s 2022 and Chiefs Kingdom is talking about Patrick Peterson and Julio Jones
Brush the dust off those old Mo Chanel tweets, turns out they might be right!
“Patrick Peterson mentioned the #Chiefs as a destination he thinks would be a good fit. I love the idea of getting a, smart, established CB star in that young CB room,” another user wrote.
“Patrick Peterson is saying the #Chiefs have expressed interest. So, it’s time to dust off this image…AGAIN! For those of you who don’t know who that guy is standing next to him, that’s Dwayne Bowe, a WR who used to play for the #Chiefs a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away,” another user wrote.
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3-Time All-Pro Defender Says He Wants to Play for Chiefs