Patrick Peterson is enjoying the ride -- and the grind
EAGAN — When cornerback Chandon Sullivan signed in Minnesota as a free agent, he went to Patrick Peterson with some questions.
He wanted to know why Peterson keeps playing.
“When I first got here I asked Pat P, ‘You have all the accolades, you’ve been doing this for such a long time at a high level even going back to college, what keeps you going?’” Sullivan told Purple Insider during Monday’s open locker room session at TCO Performance Center.
Peterson told Sullivan that he wants a ring. That’s the only thing he doesn’t have in his trophy case. He has eight Pro Bowls, three All-Pros and was named to the Hall of Fame’s All-2010s team. According to Pro-Football Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor, the comparable defensive backs to Peterson are Richard Sherman and Darrell Green. One of those guys has a gold jacket and the other will soon. Those guys have rings though.
Sullivan also wanted to know how Pat P keeps going as he enters Year 12 in the NFL.
“What does it take?” Sullivan inquired. “Statistically you’re only supposed to be in this league for a few years and I’m like, for you to be going that long and playing corner, which is arguably one of the hardest positions, how do you train your body to still be fast and quick and be able to move? I asked all his secrets.”
Well, Peterson treats his health and conditioning like a game within the game.
“I love grinding,” Peterson said, standing on the hot concrete outside the Vikings’ locker room. “I love putting my body in positions to where I’m getting ready for the season. I love when I run seven miles to see how my endurance is. I love waking up early in the morning to see if I can get through this workout. I love putting my body in certain situations [during training camp] to where when those situations pop up during a game or in the season I’ve already mentally prepared myself and been through those processes so it’s second nature.”
Sullivan uncovered some of the why and how with the future Hall of Famer, but there’s a lot more to the story with Peterson than ring chasing and knowing how to keep his body right. Peterson has something in his DNA that he can’t pass down with words of wisdom. It can’t be taught or learned. It just has to be there in order to play 12 years and keep going.
“My wife tells me all the time… ‘You’re probably the only person that I know that still has the same love and passion for the game since I met you as a rookie,’” Peterson said. “It’s how deep the game runs in my blood.”
Passion for the game takes different forms for different players. Some get a thrill from gameday but end up being bogged down by the endless workouts, tape watching, waking up early, commitment to eating the right way, and always trying to stay one step ahead. Some players don’t like much about football except for all of the things that come along with it i.e. money, fame, purpose.
Peterson enjoys all of it.
He remembers the first time he felt indefatigable when it came to football. When he first started playing little league, he would work out with his dad after games rather than playing video games or watching TV. Improving his game was Patrick’s favorite hobby.
“I always wanted to find ways to get better, always wanted to find ways to work at my craft,” Peterson said. “That’s just how I was, it’s just how I’m built, it’s just instilled in me. I’ve done it for so long that when I wake up in the morning my body already knows what to do.”
Throughout his life in football Peterson has constantly been setting the bar higher and then trying to reach it. Peterson’s cousin Bryant McFadden, a former Pittsburgh Steeler who now co-hosts the All Things Covered podcast for CBS Sports with Peterson, remembered issuing him a challenge in high school.
“When I came out of high school I was the number one corner… I remember when he was in high school — and at that time I was in the [NFL] — I said: I need you to do everything that I did plus more,” McFadden said. “He’s like, ‘I got you.’ He said it so casually like it was easy. A year-and-a-half or two years later he’s the number one corner in the country, he’s the number one player in the country.”
Peterson had a choice of any college program he wanted. At that time LSU was not known as Defensive Back University — that was probably Florida State or Ohio State— but he wanted to blaze his own path at the position.
“He put on that number seven and took it to a whole other level,” McFadden said. “That was one of the main reasons he wanted to go to LSU. He wanted to create something for that university that was never done before and that was magnifying cornerback play.”
McFadden isn’t exaggerating when he says Peterson took the No. 7 to a different level. His excellence at LSU kicked off a tradition of the university giving that number to an exceptional playmaker. It has been handed down from Peterson to Tyrann Mathieu to Leonard Fournette to DJ Chark and so on since he starred for the Tigers.
You know about the rest of his career but some of it is so crazy good that it bares repeating. Peterson was first-team All-Pro as a rookie. He returned four punts for touchdowns in his first season in the NFL, which is inconceivable. He intercepted seven passes in Year 2. In 2015 opposing quarterbacks only completed 47.7% of passes into his coverage (per PFF), the second lowest mark in the NFL that year to peak Darrelle Revis.
But all of that is in the past. The new bar that he’s set is playing effectively into his latter years. He has a chance to prove that he’s better than those final seasons in Arizona when there were whispers of age catching up with him.
“This might be the most I’ve seen him fired up for a season that I’ve seen in quite some time,” McFadden said.
Peterson says he thinks he has four more years in him. That’s not impossible since other Hall of Fame corners like Deion Sanders and Darrell Green played until age 38. Champ Bailey was 35 in his final season. Peterson just turned 32 and is coming off a year in which he was solid for Minnesota. He allowed under 60% of passes his way to be completed and a shade under a 90 quarterback rating when targeted, good for 38th out of 91 starting CBs (per PFF). Opposing QBs also didn’t go after him that often. Peterson ranked 16th best in snaps per target.
“My mind is still all into the game, my passion and my love is still all into the game,” Peterson said. “As long as my body continues to hold up, I’m going to continue to play. I still feel like I can play at a high level.”
The Vikings absolutely need him to play at a high level. Mostly unproven Cam Dantzler will start opposite of the NFL legend and Sullivan is set to play the nickel. At safety the Vikings will have the promising but inexperienced Cam Bynum alongside Harrison Smith. When it comes to the toughest matchups, those will often rest on the shoulders of Pat P.
While he’s working to maintain his body and push himself to prepare for every situation, Peterson also commented in minicamp that the Vikings’ approach to player health can help him feel more fresh as the season goes along. He thinks that defensive coordinator Ed Donatell’s system will help too.
“I think it’s going to help me out a lot having the opportunity to play with my eyes a little bit more versus being in the receiver’s face and having more stress on my body and having to guard every route,” Peterson said. “Now I can let everything unfold in front of me.”
He understands the challenge of the assignment and how difficult winning a ring will be but he isn’t hesitant to say that he’s taking some time to smell the roses on the back nine of his career. Maybe that’s part of the why and how as well.
“Definitely enjoying the ride,” Peterson said. “Enjoying every practice that I have every opportunity to lace the cleats up for. The road trips with my brothers. Those nights out for dinner before the game, the Thursday night games that we watch at someone’s house…I’m in a great state of mind.”
So what did Sullivan learn from talking with Peterson about what has allowed him to stick around for this long?
“I think it’s more cerebral,” Sullivan said. “It’s all about what’s between his ears. He has all the intangibles that make him great but it’s also his mindset.”
“Amazing guy,” Sullivan added.
