Can Wade handle Peters?

MMQB: Marcus Peters Now Burdened with the Question of What Went Wrong in Kansas City

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/02/23/marcus-peters-trade-chiefs-rams?utm_campaign=themmqb&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

The Chiefs knew what they were getting when they drafted Marcus Peters. Now as he’s traded away to the Rams, the talented cornerback draws the short end of the stick. If Kansas City is successful in 2018, the franchise will reap the praise. But Peters? He’ll be shrouded by questions of many wondering what went wrong in K.C.
By CONOR ORR February 23, 2018
The worst kept secret of the NFL offseason thus far has finally been made public. The Chiefs, who seemed just as unhappy with the maintenance of cornerback Marcus Peters as Peters did with playing for the Chiefs, signed divorce papers on Friday that can be made official when the new league year begins on March 14, a little less than a month from now.

He’ll be traded to the Rams, as ESPN first reported, for what will likely end up being a draft-pick compensation.

Kansas City will surely miss the talents of a cornerback who, since 2015, has arguably been the NFL’s most successfully aggressive cover corner. Since Peters’s rookie season, no player has made more interceptions (Peters has seven more than the next highest total), no player has more passes defensed and only four players have a lower completion percentage when thrown to. But in the meantime, we’ll praise Kansas City for “cleaning out the house” so long as they finish above .500 in 2018.

Peters will get what many in the NFL blindly label a “fresh start” as the Chiefs continue their roster overhaul with players about whom they will complain less, and this may end up benefitting both parties down the road. Relationships deteriorate at home, in business and on sports teams rapidly and sometimes the only answer is a new voice, a new location and new surroundings. It was time for something to happen and the mechanisms of the game took the proper course.

The only difference is that in the NFL the player starting over faces a discriminatorily high burden on his end.

The immediate hand-wringing over the deal on Friday was textbook. As the news filtered out, so did televised reminders that the Chiefs suspended Peters in the past, and that he was kicked off his college football team for “multiple run-ins with the coaching staff.” The lay football fan catching up on the news probably saw the transaction, shook their head and thought “Figures, that guy was always a problem.”

But what about the team that drafted him knowing full well this would be an investment that required time and effort? In Marcus Peters’s NFL.com scouting report, which is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, one NFC position coach said that he wouldn’t dream of drafting Peters in the first two rounds of the draft. Another scout said that he was off their board altogether. But Kansas City drafted him in the first round, pick No. 18. They prioritized talent like they tend to do, but the franchise will only reap the positive coverage should Peters falter in Los Angeles, or should they find another star to replace him with the draft picks they get back.

Meanwhile, Peters starts in a new location shrouded in controversy. What really happened? How disruptive must a player be in order to be dealt with one season and an option year left on his rookie contract? The leverage is always with the team, and not on a 25-year-old tasked with cleaning up his reputation just because we all assume (or were told) that’s the way it happened.

Maybe Peters wanted out just as badly and worked to make it happen. It would be one of the few times in NFL history that a team accommodated a player’s wish without also getting something invaluable in return. Maybe, like every team would like you to believe, there are reasons for the deal that if we really knew it would all make sense.

For now, we’re left with Tweets like these from former Eagles president Joe Banner, an executive who worked closely with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid for many years:

Starting to see some of the philosophical differences that lead to Dorsey departure from KC. Chiefs showing focus on character and willingness to make aggressive trades. That’s more like the Andy Reid I worked with.

— Joe Banner (@JoeBanner13) February 23, 2018

My question: How does someone focus on building character by seemingly just getting rid of someone or something that wasn’t agreeable? Wasn’t the whole point of the sport to teach everyone, from the top down, something truly valuable about responsibility and accountability to one another?

Rams’ trade for Marcus Peters proves their belief in their football culture

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article202034504.html

In professional football, the name of the game is winning. So much so that one good season is enough to make you The Next Big Thing, the one who can do no wrong.
Exhibit A for this is the Los Angeles Rams’ young coach, Sean McVay, who happened to be in Kansas City for a major event just one day after news broke surrounding the Rams’ trade for star Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters.

McVay, who was at the 101 Awards on Saturday at Westin Crown Center to receive his NFC coach of the year honor, smiled wide and spoke enthusiastically during the press conference before the event.

Positivity and enthusiasm are part of his ethos as a coach, and after the 32-year-old guided the Rams to a seven-win improvement in 2017 — while simultaneously working wonders with a previously-horrific offense — who’s to say there’s anything wrong with that?

Certainly not other coach-needy NFL teams like Indianapolis and Chicago, which spent the last few months seeking offensive-minded head coaches just like McVay in hopes of a similar turnaround.

So in the NFL, when you’re The Next Big Thing and things are going well, you can take chances. And don’t think for a second that the Rams’ acquisition of Peters, which cannot be finalized until the start of the new league year on March 14, isn’t rooted in confidence born in the Rams’ success this season.

“Right now, just because of where we’re at in the league year, you can’t make it official, so you have to be careful with some of the tampering,” McVay said, when asked directly about Peters. “But in a quick nugget, he’s a great player.”

There’s little doubt about that. Since 2015, Peters’ rookie season, no NFL cornerback has intercepted more passes than Peters, the mercurial Oakland native, who’s penchant for diagnosing routes and making plays is practically unmatched. At 25 years old, Peters is among the best cornerbacks in the league at a position of critical importance, one who could have been retained by the Chiefs for fairly reasonable sums the next two years.

Still, the Chiefs opted to punt on making him the league’s highest-paid corner in the near future, trading him Friday in a move that’s been in the works for three weeks. That little fact — of Peters likely garnering a big payday in the future — seemed to scare away several teams, as sources told The Star that only the Rams and 49ers stepped to the plate with interest.

It’s not a coincidence both are West Coast teams with young head coaches with leadership skills, as Peters’ preference for being close to his beloved hometown of Oakland has been long-established, while his coachability has been a question dating back to college.

But for McVay and the Rams, whose worst-to-first turnaround has rightfully inspired confidence in their system, the trade for Peters is essentially playing with house money. With Peters needing a new deal, he’s likely to play well, and is likely to be on his best behavior as the new kid on the block.

“These are grown men, and it starts with the mutual respect that exists, where they know it’s about developing and building relationships,” said McVay, who fosters that by being honest when he messes up too. “If we’re going to ask our players to be coachable, we’ve got to be coachable as coaches as well. That displays an ownership and an accountability that we try to all have and makes the players more receptive to the messages we try to implement.”

When it comes to discipline, McVay said he believes in establishing clear-cut boundaries, which could factor into his eventual handling of Peters, whom Chiefs coach Andy Reid suspended in late December for one game due to a combination of Peters’ on-field and off-field behavior.

“They know exactly what the expectations are, what our standards are, and they know what it is to do it the right way,” McVay said.

That’s why star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who was also in Kansas City on Saturday to be honored as the NFC’s defensive player of the year by the 101 Committee, believes in the Rams’ ability to accommodate just about any personality.

“He’s a coach — he’ll get after you when you do something wrong,” Donald said of McVay. “Don’t let that smile fool you. I’ve seen that man change.”

One other thing the Rams have going for them is the presence of defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. While Peters often appeared to be frustrated at the on-field calls by Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton late last season — at least until his suspension — Phillips’ gravitas is real. Though Phillips is quiet, he also has a knack for putting his players in position to make plays, and when you throw in all the great players
he’s coached — and don’t forget, Phillips was the guide of Denver’s Super Bowl-winning swashbuckling unit of a few years, which was one of the best in recent history — he’s got the command and respect of the entire locker room.

“Every little thing he says, it makes you want to listen to it and take the coaching,” Donald said.

But players ultimately set the tone in a locker room, and McVay likes the alpha males who establish the Rams’ football culture, especially defenders like Alec Ogletree, Connor Barwin and Donald, all of whom McVay explicitly mentioned by name.

“Special players like this have a real good influence, especially when they’re producing,” said McVay as he nodded toward Donald, who was sitting directly to his left.
Donald prefers to lead by example, and he noted the Rams have a lot of guys like that, who work hard and have helped McVay establish the right way of doing things.

Even former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, who is now an NFL analyst, thinks a new team will be good for Peters, whose sometimes-explosive temperament caused more attention than his on-field play did at times last season.

“Sometimes a change of scenery will do a player good, and I hope that for Marcus, because he’s a phenomenal football player,” Gonzalez said. “But sometimes with personalities and situations, change is good. That’s why coaches get fired, players get traded. You’ve just got to move on and make it good.”

But in the meantime, the Rams are taking a chance after a winning season, a chance that makes sense. It’s a gamble for sure, but it’s one you can take when you’ve got the league copying your blueprint for success.

“When you’re looking at the way we want to operate philosophically, you can never have enough guys that can cover and be able to play some of the man principles that (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips) loves to implement,” McVay said.

“Anytime you have guys that can cover and do different things as far as matching up with receivers like Antonio Brown, that gives you a chance to be versatile and maybe mix some things up in terms of the pressures that you want to bring.”

Sean McVay: Players know exactly “what our standards are” for behavior

Sean McVay: Players know exactly “what our standards are” for behavior

Rams head coach Sean McVay was at an awards ceremony in Kansas City on Saturday and that meant he got asked about the team’s agreement to trade for Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters.

That trade can’t become official until March 14, which limited McVay’s ability to answer without violating the league’s rules on tampering. McVay said Peters is a “great player” but didn’t have any other comments about the move or the cornerback.

McVay was able to speak more freely about something that was a concern for Peters in Kansas City. Peters was suspended for a game last season due to his behavior during and after a game and such concerns likely contributed to the Chiefs’ decision to trade a young and talented player at this point. McVay spoke in general terms about how the Rams handle their players.

“These are grown men, and it starts with the mutual respect that exists, where they know it’s about developing and building relationships,” McVay said, via the Kansas City Star. “If we’re going to ask our players to be coachable, we’ve got to be coachable as coaches as well. That displays an ownership and an accountability that we try to all have and makes the players more receptive to the messages we try to implement. … They know exactly what the expectations are, what our standards are, and they know what it is to do it the right way.”

Defensive tackle Aaron Donald was also at the event and counseled that McVay’s smile shouldn’t fool anyone because “he’ll get after you when you do something wrong.” The Rams surely hope that won’t be necessary with Peters this year.

Rams locker room might be right one for Marcus Peters

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/37789/rams-locker-room-might-be-right-one-for-marcus-peters

LOS ANGELES — Marcus Peters is only 25, set to make less than $2 million, with far more interceptions than anybody else over the past three seasons — and yet, according to the Kansas City Star, only the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers were legitimately interested in trading for him.

It says a lot, about the reputation Peters has built and the hesitancy it has caused.

In agreeing to acquire Peters from the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday — for a package of draft picks that has yet to be revealed, in a trade that won’t become official until the start of the new league year on March 14 — the Rams inherited some risk. They got a shutdown cornerback at minimal cost, adding an elite playmaker at their greatest position of need for only $1.74 million. But they also added a mercurial player with a history of quarreling with coaches and losing his composure, which prompts some important questions.

Is Peters a bad guy, or could the Chiefs simply not reach him?

Is his ability worth the trouble?

Is the Rams locker room and culture strong enough to sustain it?

The Rams’ hope is that a change of scenery will do wonders for Peters. And if any scene will do it, it’s theirs. The Rams are only a drive away from Peters’ hometown of Oakland, which is said to be important to him. They have a 32-year-old head coach in Sean McVay who is as good as any at connecting with this generation’s players. Their defensive coordinator, the 70-year-old Wade Phillips, is as revered as they come. And the leadership within their locker room is sound, with the likes of Aaron Donald and Alec Ogletree setting the tone on defense.

“We have a good foundation in place,” McVay said from the 101 Awards in Kansas City on Saturday, where he was presented with the organization’s NFC Coach of the Year Award.

“The leadership, I think, that we have in our locker room is able to bring guys in and welcome them and make them feel a part of it. You’ll hear us talk about ‘we not me,’ being a part of something bigger than yourself. That’s what we’ve got in our locker room, and that’s why you feel good about being able to bring people in and let them know that we’re going to welcome them; we’re going to put our arm around them.”

Peters was dismissed from Washington before the completion of his junior season after multiple arguments with assistant coaches. His coach with the Chiefs, Andy Reid, has built a strong reputation for getting along with players. But even Reid felt the need to suspend Peters after a bizarre sequence against the New York Jets this past December, when he threw an official’s flag into the stands, left the field without being ejected and later returned without socks. Peters also argued with Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton on the sideline a handful of times, among other transgressions.

Phillips has dealt with numerous dynamic personalities in his 40-plus years in the NFL, most recently the likes of Pacman Jones and Aqib Talib. But Phillips has never been considered a disciplinarian. Players love playing for him at least partly because he trusts them, because he lets them be, because he doesn’t necessarily reprimand. If that is ever necessary with Peters, it would probably fall on McVay.

His leadership and coaching acumen could be tested like never before, but it should be worth it.

Peters is that good.

He has generated 30 turnovers since being drafted 18th overall three years ago, including 19 interceptions, six forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries. His 49.0 disrupted dropbacks — a measure that combines interceptions, sacks, batted passes and passes defended — are tied for third from 2015 to 2017. And since the 1970 merger, only three players — Richard Sherman, Ed Reed and Everson Walls — have more interceptions in their first three seasons.

Asked about Peters in Kansas City, McVay declined comment because the trade has not been processed.

“But in a quick nugget,” McVay said, “he’s a great player.”

Quarterbacks have continually shied away from Peters, his targets going from 137 in 2015 to 87 in 2016 to 72 in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus. But he’s still the first player since Reed from 2000 to 2004 with at least five interceptions in each of his first three seasons. He missed only two tackles last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and forced a career-high four fumbles. From 2015 to 2017, his opponents’ passer rating when targeted has been 67.7, 66.0 and 66.0, respectively. All fell within the NFL’s top 11.

In Peters, the Rams gained a former All-Pro who’s better than Trumaine Johnson and costs one-tenth of the price. There’s still no word on what they gave up, but some reporters have speculated that a first-round pick probably wasn’t involved. If that’s the case, then this is the type of trade you make every time — when you’re that kind of team, have that kind of need and feel that kind of confident about your environment.

“When you look at the way that we want to operate philosophically,” McVay said, speaking in generalities, “you can never have enough guys that can cover, be able to play some of the man principles that Coach Wade loves to implement.”

Peters comes at a critical juncture in his rookie contract. The Rams will have until May 3 to pick up his fifth-year option for 2019, which basically means they have a year to figure out whether to pay him in line with the game’s best cornerbacks. Given that, and the circumstances that will surround him, perhaps Peters will remain composed in 2018.

The Rams, coming off an 11-5 season that led to a division title, just acquired a potential Hall of Fame cornerback in the thick of his prime.

They will happily deal with any of the red flags that come with it.

“Everything starts with relationships, and I wouldn’t say you’re looking for any sort of balance of personalities [in the locker room],” McVay said from Kansas City. “You want the right types of guys, and we look for good guys who are good football guys and that love the game.”

Rampage2K- wrote:

Eric Berry has Marcus Peters back…..

He was one GMFB this morning and seemed pretty bummed out by the trade….mentioned all the good things MP did in the community that never got the type of news that his missteps did.
Mentioned about how he emptied his adidas account to do a “coat drive” for the homeless and other things. Dispelling the myth this guy is some sort of locker room distraction or cancer.