Many are optimistic about what the Arizona Cardinals can do in 2020. However, no one appears to be more publicly bullish about the team than cornerback Patrick Peterson.
He already recently declared that this roster of players is the best team, at least on paper, he has been on in his almost decade in the league.
After four postseason-less seasons and only eight wins combined in the last two years, he is putting no limits on what this team can achieve.
“The sky is the limit for this football team,” he said in a video conference with the media this past week. “I truly believe we can go as far as we want.”
Both in a previous interview he gave on a podcast and in this meeting with the media, he emphasized how it is on the players to perform and that they must have a common vision, trust each other and commit to the goal to be able to be as good as they can be, but he isn’t shying away from giving lofty expectations for the potential of the team.
It started with the offseason, he said.
“The offseason has been great for us. The draft has been great for us,” he said. “We really hit all areas in this offseason to give not only the fans something exciting to look forward to but also putting us in the best opportunity to win. I definitely think this is a championship-caliber team from top to bottom.”
The trade to acquire receiver DeAndre Hopkins got Peterson excited. General manager Steve Keim “started with a bang.”
“The acquisition of DeAndre, that was huge for us,” Peterson said. “To add a top-two receiver to your roster, that just doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t fall in your lap. For that trade to be pulled off, I thought (it) was a great sign and a great start to the offseason.”
So what makes this team so potentially special?
He described both the defense and the offense.
He began with the defensive backfield, where he plays.
“The youth we have in the back end, I believe that speaks for itself,” he said. “We have young talented players that love the game that can cover sideline to sideline, that can be the enforcer. I believe that is very important for a football team.”
Peterson himself returns for a full season after missing six games to suspension. Cornerback Robert Alford comes back after missing the season with a broken leg, “which is going to be huge,” Peterson said.
At safety, they have Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson. He called Baker “the enforcer” and a “Tasmanian Devil.” He raved about how Thompson played late in the season when he saw Thompson’s “confidence go through the roof.”
He then moved to the defensive front seven, noting the presence of linebacker Jordan Hicks, the addition of rookie linebacker Isaiah Simmons and the pass rushing of Chandler Jones.
With the signing of Jordan Phillips, the return of Jonathan Bullard and the selection in the draft of Leki Fotu and Rashard Lawrence, “you’ve got pass rush, you’ve got D-line, you’ve got rotation now.”
Then, on offense, he spoke of quarterback Kyler Murray.
“I believe it’s going to be a huge year for him,” he said. “We all know he hasn’t even scratched the surface yet.”
With running backs Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds, Murray “has a great backfield to help him out.”
Then, with the addition of Hopkins to the receiver room with Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk, the Cardinals have “three receivers that you pretty much can’t double.”
“Kyler’s going to be like a kid in a candy store,” Peterson added. “He’s going to be able to pick whatever candy he wants. You’ve got the opportunity to throw touchdowns to red-zone Fitz, take shots with DeAndre, and downfield shots with Christian as well.”
“When you look back at the teams that I’ve been a part of, that’s everything we had,” he said, thinking back to the seasons from 2013-2015 when the Cardinals won 10 games or more a year. “But I believe the only thing different in this group is we’re a little bit faster and we got younger and having that youth in this day in age is big for us.”
It isn’t a prediction for what will happen, but it is a declaration of what is possible.
“If we all come together, focus on our one goal, we can take definitely take it the distance,” he said.”I’m very optimistic about where we can be at the end of the year, but right now we’re just a good team on paper.”
It gives Cardinals fans a reason to get excited.
“We have everything that you need, and if you’re trying to build a championship-caliber football team, we have the players,” he said. “This is that type of roster.”
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Ep. 267
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Ep. 266
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