Minnesota Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson caused a bit of a firestorm with a comment he made about former teammate Kyler Murray, and took time Thursday to go deeper into what he meant.
Peterson said on his “All Things Covered” podcast that Murray did not care about anyone but himself, a comment that went viral on social media. Murray was quick to respond to Peterson’s comment on social media.
Peterson said he had been speaking about Murray’s body language, and that the quarterback moping on the sideline sends a bad message to the rest of the team. Peterson said he reached out to Murray privately, but has not received a response yet.
Patrick Peterson was asked today about Kyler Murray's response to his "Kyler only cares about Kyler" comment.
Here's his full answer, in which he clarifies what he meant — "I’m just saying something that most people may be afraid to tell him" — and says he texted Murray. pic.twitter.com/d4tyom2Uhk
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 1, 2022
“When you’re a franchise quarterback, you have to carry yourself a certain way,” Peterson said. “So if you’re having bad body language, pouting, moping on the sideline, what type of energy you think that feeds off to your teammates? That’s what I meant about Kyler caring about himself, because he’s not putting the team first. When you make a bad throw, you’re coming off to the sideline, you’re dropping your shoulders, how do you think the defense feels? If our starting quarterback don’t have any energy, no fire that we can win this game, how can we?
“Those mannerisms are alarming. I’m just saying something that most people may be afraid to tell him. It’s no secret, everybody sees it. You see it every time they’re on television. You see Kyler Murray pouting, cursing at the head coach, calling out the offensive scheme. I didn’t say that, he did.”
Presented like this, Peterson’s points make a lot of sense. We have seen Murray lose his temper with coach Kliff Kingsbury, and a remark he made about offensive scheme recently raised some eyebrows. Peterson thinks these things impact Murray’s teammates, and they very well might.
Peterson has been critical of Murray for a while, so he may be dismissed more easily because of that. On the other hand, a lot of people might quietly agree that he has a point.
