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The Minnesota Vikings will be without the elder statesman of their cornerbacks corps for at least three games.
Patrick Peterson exited the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 34-28 win over the Carolina Panthers with an apparent hamstring injury. The Vikings reported Peterson was experiencing cramps, which left plenty of optimism surrounding his status entering the bye week.
However, the Vikings placed Peterson on the injured reserve list on Monday, forcing him to sit out at least the next three games. The bye week does not count toward his time accrued, per revised NFL injured reserve list rules.
Peterson will miss the next three games coming out of the bye week against the Dallas Cowboys (Oct. 31), Baltimore Ravens (Nov. 7) and Los Angeles Chargers (Nov. 14). He is eligible to be activated in Week 11 ahead of a Sunday matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
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Mike Zimmer Questionable on Peterson’s Return
Mike Zimmer addressed the media on Monday had few details on Peterson’s outlook moving forward after the team’s downplayed his injury, calling it a case of “cramping.”
“No, we don’t believe it’s season-ending,” Zimmer said.
Peterson sustained the injury on the Panthers’ game-tying drive in the final two minutes of regulation. He strained his right hamstring on a deep route to Panthers wide receiver D.J. Moore. After the play, Peterson was helped off the field by two trainers and struggled to put weight on his right foot.
Peterson has been the Vikings’ top starting cornerback through six weeks, compiling a 64.3 position grade by Pro Football Focus. In his past three games, Peterson has allowed nine catches on 19 targets for 33 yards per game this season.
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Next Man Up
Second-year cornerback Cameron Dantzler finished the Panthers game in Peterson’s place on Sunday. D.J. Moore converted a crucial fourth down, beating Dantzler in coverage for a 25-yard gain that set up Robby Anderson’s game-tying touchdown with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.
It was Dantzler’s worst PFF performance of the season(46.1 PFF grade), granted he was thrown into action on defense unsuspectedly late into the game. He allowed two catches for 40 yards in coverage. He did help swing the game in the Vikings’ favor by forcing a fumble that Eric Kendricks recovered in the third quarter.
Dantzler is currently the team’s highest-graded cornerback by PFF, boasting a 67.9 position grade that ranks 48th among 189 graded corners.
He’ll likely start alongside Bashaud Breeland, who had a turnaround performance against the Panthers after weeks of being pegged as one of the league’s worst corners. Breeland, intercepting a pass by Sam Darnold on the first play from scrimmage, did not allow a catch on six targets on Sunday. He posted an 88.9 defensive grade for the game, which boosted his overall PFF grade this season to 54.7.
Breeland had allowed competition to catch all 15 targets thrown his way between Weeks 2-5 but has since allowed just three catches on 13 targets. He currently ranked 126th at his position.
“Patrick’s played really well, we’ll miss him for sure, but Dantzler’s done decent and so has Breeland,” Zimmer said.
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