SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Patrick Peterson isn’t going anywhere.
Or so he says.
After hitting his tee shot on the famed 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the Waste Management Phoenix Open pro-am on Wednesday, the Cardinals star cornerback took a microphone and told the crowd he’d be back next season — and beyond.
“I just want to apologize to everybody for asking for that trade in the middle of the season,” Peterson said. “I’m here to stay, baby.”
Peterson’s trade request was reported in October by ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, causing Peterson to walk back his request two days after it came to light.
Peterson “desperately” wanted to out of Arizona, Schefter reported. Peterson clarified, saying he was “frustrated” with the Cardinals 1-6 start.
Peterson told ESPN on Wednesday that he’ll honor his contract, which goes until 2020.
“I’m under contract another two years and we’ll see how this stint goes with coach (Kliff) Kingsbury,” Peterson told ESPN. “(General manager) Steve Keim and (team president) Michael Bidwil, they’ll have some decisions to make once that time comes.”
Peterson also told ESPN that he’s looking forward to “lighting the scoreboard up this year” with Kingsbury, who was hired by the Cardinals on Jan. 8, and also thought the hiring of Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator was “very great” despite Peterson hoping the Cardinals would’ve hired former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Peterson, who’s been a Pro Bowler in each of his eight seasons in the NFL, heaped praise on former Cardinals coach Steve Wilks, who was fired on Dec. 31 after a 3-13 season.
“I thought we had a great coach last year,” Peterson told ESPN. “I just believed he got caught in a tough situation and the organization wanted to go in a different route after one year. But coach Wilks did a lot of great things to get guys going as far as having music and for practice, keeping guys loose. I’m quite sure with coach Kingsbury, coming from the college atmosphere, he’s going to kind of implement some of those same things, trying to keep guys loose, trying to keep things fun and trying to innovate a bunch of different things within what we’re doing on a day-to-day schedule to keep us into it.
“It should be pretty interesting.”