Veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson intimated on his “All Things Covered” podcast with former NFL cornerback Bryant McFadden that he wouldn’t mind returning to play a second year with the Minnesota Vikings.
“I stand where I stood in December and said I loved everything about Minnesota,” Peterson said. “At the end of the day the ball’s in their court now, if they want me back. I’m a free agent right now. I have a couple of teams that say that they’re interested, so we’ll see what happens in the next couple days.”
Peterson, who will be 32 next season, declined to say the other teams that have reached out to him.
How the Vikings will come up with cap space to bring Peterson back remains a mystery. He signed a one-year, $8 million deal to play last season with the Vikings, $5.9 million of which was a signing bonus.
According to Over the Cap, the Vikings had only $256,000 in cap space prior to re-signing punter Jordan Berry on Wednesday, so there are still plenty of moves and possible contract restructures yet to be announced by the team to get them cap compliant.
Meanwhile, asked if he’s optimistic about Minnesota’s playoff chances next season, Peterson said the Vikings should’ve been a playoff team last year but “situational football” cost them.
“I know we had the guys on the roster last year, especially the guys on offense being able to put up the points that they’ve been able to put up week in and week out,” he said. “It was just situational football for us that kept us from getting into the playoffs, in my opinion. Especially early in the season, losing what, seven games by four or less points?”
“It’s going to come down to guys staying healthy, guys buying into the new system,” he added. “Coach just trusting his new players to be where they need to be and just sticking to the script.”
