Report: Patrick Peterson suspended six games to start NFL season

Patrick Peterson has been one of the biggest names in trade rumors over the past couple of weeks, but today we learned that will be much harder because he’s going to miss the first six games of the season.

The Arizona Cardinals bizarre offseason continues to get even stranger. Their most important defensive player Patrick Peterson is now suspended for the first six games of the season.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports this suspension is tied to the NFL’s performance enhancing drug policy. The suspension comes at a terrible time for the Cardinals, who were reportedly testing the market for the star cornerback.

Many teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, were tied to rumors for the Cardinals star. Now, even if a team decides to trade for Peterson, the return will be much, much worse. Not only is there the issue of his missed games, but there’s also the possibility that Peterson will be rusty coming off the suspension.

We don’t know the exact drug that triggered a suspension for Peterson. We haven’t heard the “tainted supplement” excuse yet. Who knows which version of Peterson comes out of this.

After the Kyler Murray-Josh Rosen drama, the hiring of a coach who got fired from a middling college program and more coming from Glendale, this was the last thing the Arizona Cardinals needed this offseason.

Peterson, 28, is still an eight-time Pro Bowler, and seemed to still be playing at a high level. But if the Cardinals decide to keep Peterson to start and trade him at the deadline, now they only have a week or two to showcase what he can still do before sending him to a contender. From both the trade and suspension standpoints, it’s clear the Cardinals are the big losers here.

Either way, no matter which team Peterson is playing for this year, he’s going to miss a chunk of the first part of the season. And now, his trade value has taken a clear hit.