Patrick Peterson was not asked to travel with and negate the opponents' top receiver all the time under former Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks. He will under new defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
"I'm going to allow Pat to match to the best guy each week to keep his doppler up," Joseph said on the team's radio show, via Cards Wire.
Last summer, the storyline was that taking Peterson off the travel game and into more zone would allow the corner to see the ball more and make plays. The change under Wilks didn't change PP's stats much -- five passes defended, 2 INTs.
Opposing quarterbacks also continued to ignore Peterson, electing to pick on other weak Cards corners. With PP not traveling, however, they could line up their best receiver against weaker corners.
With QBs simply ignoring Peterson, the signing of veteran Robert Alford could be a major factor in 2019.
Joseph noted that allowing Peterson to travel with the opponent's top player will keep the corner engaged instead of growing bored from being ignored. Joseph noted that lining up against the best receiver "takes the guessing game out of it."
"After the game, we can say he had 15 targets, he caught three balls, Pat P., job well done," Joseph said.
After one year under Wilks, the Cards are getting back to a defense they're more familiar with, which includes PP returning as the top shadow corner in the league.
