Cardinals' Arians compares Patrick Peterson to Deion Sanders

Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson returned to elite form this season, and head coach Bruce Arians believes his star has reached stratospheric heights.

Peterson and fellow cornerback Tyrann Mathieu are garnering All-Pro consideration for their efforts this season. Coming off the worst campaign of his career when he surrendered eight touchdowns, some were skeptical if Peterson would star among the NFL's best cornerbacks once again.

Arians issued high praise for Peterson on Wednesday.

"He's playing probably as well as Deion Sanders did when he was young," Arians said of Peterson to Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic.

Sanders captured Defensive Player of the Year in 1994, while leading the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, goals that Peterson is certainly trying to achieve.

With the Cardinals emerging as one of the favorites to win the NFC, Peterson is on his way to replicating some of Sanders' on-field success.