Pro Football Focus is much higher on Patrick Peterson than the consensus is at this point. Releasing their cornerback rankings after Week 3, Peterson ranks as the 10th-best cornerback in the entire NFL for PFF, and he shot up the rankings last week from No. 32 to No. 10.
His PFF Grade ranks 20th among NFL cornerbacks this year at 72.7, while his successful coverage over expected rate is 12th in the NFL. After Week 1, where he got dinged for allowing two touchdowns for Brandon Aiyuk, that’s a solid bounce-back for Peterson in the metrics.
“Peterson snagged his first interception and first stop in coverage of the year, which vaulted him back into the rankings. He’s been a lockdown cornerback despite being responsible for two touchdown passes in Week 1,” PFF wrote.
Patrick Peterson could be argued to have allowed a touchdown against the Raiders when Davante Adams won on a deep post route. Playing in their zombie coverage, Peterson had to get back in time to help Levi Wallace to the inside but could not, allowing Adams to catch a critical touchdown on 4th-and-1 to give the Raiders an early lead.
But he did nab his first interception with the team, putting him as the active leader in interceptions in the NFL. Peterson has registered at least one interception in his 13 NFL seasons, which is the league’s longest active streak. He no longer has the elite speed that made him one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and an electrifying return man. However, Peterson still has top-notch ball skills and excellent zone coverage eyes to make plays against quarterbacks.
Pittsburgh will continue to need his level of play to climb, with the group struggling on the back-end on a down-to-down basis but starting to find their footing as ballhawks who make plays on errant passes.