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Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson seems to have found himself in the news a lot this offseason and it happened again. This time it wasn't about who the best cornerback was, though. It was comments he made about wide receivers.
Peterson was attending a fundraiser in Greensboro, North Carolina, put together his head coach's foundation. He was asked about the best receiver tandem in the league. Peterson said (via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that Roddy White and Julio Jones are the best duo in the league, agreeing with comments that Jones had previously made.
“The best duo in the NFL, I’d probably have to say that’s pretty accurate,” Peterson said. “Both of those guys are Pro Bowl caliber receivers, both of them are All-Pro caliber receivers. Both of them do a lot of good things for Matt Ryan to make his job a little easier. But to say they are the best tandem, I’d probably have to say that he’s probably right.”
Now Peterson and Jones have a history together. They played against one another in the SEC in college and they have great respect for one another. Jones said recently that he would pick Peterson first over Richard Sherman.
But here is where Peterson erred.
While he might be absolutely right, he spurned his own teammates. He could have, and probably should have said that Jones and White were the best outside of the pairing of Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.
It's a simple thing, but it defends the players in the locker room. He should take a page out of Darnell Dockett's book, who for as crazy as he is, always mentions his teammates first whenever topics come up.
Is it a big deal?
Not really, but it is one of the small things he probably still should learn, especially if he wants to be known as a leader.
Should Peterson have at least mentioned his teammates?
