The Pittsburgh Steelers signed veteran CB Patrick Peterson last offseason, but after an up-and-down 2023 season, he was released this offseason. He’s expressed interest in returning to Pittsburgh, and general manager Omar Khan said today that the Steelers wouldn’t close the door on a return.
“Yeah, we don’t close the door on anything. You don’t know how the rest of camp and the rest of the season’s gonna go. Obviously, injuries come to play, and different things happen and you gotta be prepared,” Khan said when asked about a potential Peterson return via the team’s YouTube channel.
Peterson moved around a little bit last season after beginning the year as an outside cornerback for the Steelers. He got reps in the slot and at safety, and his 208 slot reps last season were a career high. If Pittsburgh was going to bring Peterson back, it would likely be to fill a role in the slot.
The Steelers signed Cameron Sutton to play in the slot, but Sutton was suspended eight games following a domestic violence incident this offseason. That leaves Beanie Bishop Jr. and Josiah Scott as Pittsburgh’s two top options to play the slot, and it will be a competition during camp for that role.
However, if neither one of them looks like a viable option or one of them suffers an injury, then the Steelers might need to address the position from outside the organization. At this point, someone like Peterson would make sense as a veteran corner who has experience with the team.
Another benefit to adding Peterson would be his leadership ability. He mentored Joey Porter Jr. last season and could continue to be a mentor for Porter and others in a young cornerback room. There’s no denying that Peterson has lost a step, but he makes sense as an option to get some slot reps if the internal options fail to make an impact.
It doesn’t seem as if it’s any sort of sure thing that Peterson returns, but it’s going to be important for Bishop, Scott or other potential slot options like Thomas Graham Jr. to play well during camp so the Steelers and Khan don’t start looking elsewhere. Given Peterson’s experience, he likely wouldn’t need a ton of training camp ramp-up to be ready to go, either, so he could be an add as late as the end of the month or even into the season if needed.
The slot corner battle is an underrated one with Sutton suspended, and needless to say, the Steelers have a number of options for how they go about it.