Patrick Peterson trade demands reflect poorly on Arizona Cardinals organization beyond poor record

Being 1-6 is bad enough, but when one of your star players suddenly decides he wants out, things go from bad to worse really quickly.

That is exactly what happened Monday when a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter came out that Patrick Peterson has demanded a trade from the Arizona Cardinals prior to the October 30th deadline.

Whether Peterson actually gets traded remains to be seen (he is under contract through 2020), but the point that still stands is this: something bad is brewing within the Cardinals organization.

Much of what is happening appears to lead back to head coach Steve Wilks. The quick hiring and firing of Mike McCoy, who was also fired rather quickly last year by the Denver Broncos, was the biggest telltale sign of that, as well as players on both offense and defense having subpar seasons.

Now with the Peterson news getting out, there appears to be some toxicity in the locker room. Players are obviously tired of losing almost halfway through the season. That is to be expected. But if Wilks had control of the locker room and had players believing that they still had a chance to turn things around, that wouldn’t be an issue. The regression has decidedly reached a point where players have given up.

All of this puts Michael Bidwill, the Cardinals team president, in a tough spot. Something obviously isn’t working and this year was supposed to be a “re-tool” as opposed to a “rebuild”, which obviously isn’t the case. The Cardinals are hardly even competitive in most of their games.

Combining all of these poor outcomes could mean a one and done season with Wilks at the head coaching position. It could also mean Steve Keim is on the hot seat as well (although, I would guess his seat isn’t as hot as Wilks’). I don’t envision anything happening before the end of the season with anymore of the coaching staff or front office, but as everything stands, there is a lot of work to do in these final nine games to change the image that the Cardinals have suddenly created for themselves.