Denver Broncos: Making the case for free agent Patrick Peterson

Denver Broncos: Case for Patrick Peterson

Fit in Vic Fangio’s defense

Being around the league since 2011, Patrick Peterson is capable of playing both man and zone coverage.

While Vic Fangio’s defense mixes man and zone coverage, typically you’re looking for guys who excel in zone coverage as fits for the scheme on the whole.

That isn’t going to be a problem for Peterson, a seasoned veteran. The bigger advantage here is Peterson’s football savvy and tremendous experience at this point.

There’s nothing under the football sun that Peterson hasn’t seen over the last decade. He knows the game well and can do whatever is asked of him. That is critical for the Vic Fangio defense because communication is so essential.

If the Broncos are able to bring back Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson, adding Peterson into the fray at cornerback would give the team yet another veteran presence who could help take this unit to another level.

This graph shows that Patrick Mahomes had two of his worst games of the 2020 season against Vic Fangio’s defense in Denver. Considering how badly the Broncos struggled with injuries in the 2020 season, it’s a wonder they were able to play so well against Kansas City but that is really what Fangio brings to the table and why the league is trying desperately to copy his tactics.

In Fangio’s scheme, a veteran like Peterson is far less likely to struggle with the communication piece than a rookie coming in even as a first-round draft pick.

Again, as is the case with the Broncos’ quarterback situation, we have to consider the importance of the 2021 season for Vic Fangio in terms of his job and future in Denver.

Bringing in a proven star player like Peterson, even at the age of 30, could really help the Broncos get on the board against Kansas City again, something they haven’t done since 2015.