Report: Dallas Cowboys “made a push” for Patrick Peterson this offseason

At present time things are somewhat interesting for the Dallas Cowboys at the cornerback position. We know that Trevon Diggsis group’s top option, but a new depth player has emerged throughout camp in veteran Maurice Canady.

With Diggs and Canady seemingly playing the best, there is still hope for others further down the roster. Second-round pick Kelvin Joseph seems to be coming into his own a bit as does third-rounder Nahshon Wright. Jourdan Lewis remains another depth player, and then there is Anthony Brown.

The Cowboys will open their regular season less than a month from now and when they do it is expected that Brown will start at corner opposite of Trevon Diggs. Canady’s growth has led some to wonder whether or not the team should even try and deal Brown, but imagine if this group had yet another veteran option if they had been able to land him in the offseason.

The Dallas Cowboys reportedly “made a push” for Patrick Peterson this offseason

News that the Arizona Cardinals were going to move on from Patrick Peterson first surfaced right after Super Bowl LV ended. We talked about whether or not the Cowboys should be interested in him (several times in fact), but ultimately he went on to join the Minnesota Vikings.

Recently The Athletic wrote about how Peterson is enjoying his new football home (also about how upset he is with Cardinals brass, a totally different story). Within the story Peterson shared that the Cowboys were among the teams who “made a push” for him when he was a free agent.

Once the team Peterson wanted to play for most was no longer an option, he began contemplating the possibilities. The Cowboys and 49ers made pushes, he says. There were conversations with the Eagles.

When he interviewed with Zimmer before the draft in 2011, Peterson was drawn to him. At the time, Zimmer was the Bengals’ defensive coordinator. With the fourth pick in the draft, the Bengals chose wide receiver A.J. Green, and the Cardinals took Peterson with the following selection.

Zimmer didn’t think the Vikings had a chance to sign Peterson. Then Peterson asked his agent to call Zimmer. Once Zimmer and Peterson talked, they knew they were a match.

It makes complete and total sense for Peterson to flock towards Mike Zimmer, a coach that has had success with cornerbacks near the end of their careers. But if all it took was a conversation with him for Patrick to be all in, what was the extent of the “push” that the Cowboys made?

Stephen Jones often talks about how roster construction is a 24/7/365 business in the National Football League and it does seem like the team kicked the tires in this situation. Peterson signed a one-year deal with Minnesota for $8M, it is hard to see how that could have been some unconquerable variable for Dallas in any sort of negotiations.

Many Cowboys fans wanted to see the team pursue Peterson as a potential option to move to safety (a switch often flipped for corners longer in the tooth). Perhaps that is where the fork in the road happened for the two or maybe things didn’t even get that far conversationally.