Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson called it a “dirty rumor” that he and the Cardinals are certain to part ways this offseason, but it is a real possibility.
Peterson is set for his first taste of free agency after spending the last 10 years with the team and Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill shared some of his feelings about the situation on Thursday.
During an appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7, Bidwill said that the team would like to have Peterson back. He also suggested that Peterson will need to take less than he might prefer if he would like to remain in Arizona.
“Pat and I have had a number of conversations. I’ve been very clear that we want to have him back,” Bidwill said. “We all know that the salary cap is going to go down. I think a lot of these veteran players need to work with us, and they need to understand that while their salary expectations and their compensation expectations may be one thing, we’ve got to look at it from the reality that the salary cap is going down. It’s our hope we can work something out that works for both the club and for Pat to keep him in a Cardinals uniform. He’s been an important part of what we’ve done in the past, and hope to keep him in the future.”
We learned on Thursday that the cap for the 2021 season will be no lower than $180 million, but that or anything in the neighborhood is still a significant drop from last season. That will lead to some players being released and it will also likely lead to veterans like Peterson lowering their sights when it comes to the size of the contracts they’ll receive this offseason.