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If Patrick Peterson is the best player in this year’s draft class, why won’t the LSU cornerback be the first player selected on Thursday night?

It’s all about position, not potential.

“The problem with taking a cornerback that high is that opposing teams can diminish his impact by throwing away from him,” said Mike Mayock, draft analyst for the NFL Network.

History isn’t on Peterson’s side, either, because a cornerback never has been the No. 1 pick in the draft.

In the past 35 drafts, only 28 cornerbacks have been Top 10 draft choices – and there has been just one in the past five drafts (Joe Haden, the No. 7 pick last year by the Cleveland Browns). For every Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson or Mike Haynes in this group, there is a Tommy Knight or Pacman Jones.

The highest picks in this span, which coincides with the number of seasons the Seahawks have been in existence? Shawn Springs and Bruce Pickens. Each was selected third overall – Springs by the Seahawks in 1997; Pickens by the Atlanta Falcons in 1991.

Those are the odds working against Peterson, a 6-foot, 219-pounder who can return kicks as well as blanket receivers. It might not be fair, but it’s definitely the way it is.

“A lot of people think he might be the best player in this draft, and he might be,” Mayock said. “He has the return skills of a man 40 pounds smaller than he is. He has the ability to move, to press, to play off. He’s a little tight in the hips, but I don’t care.

“He’s a great football player.”

One who likely will have to sit as the names of others are called before his by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Not long, of course, but longer than seems right.

“I hope I can be in play for the first pick, but it is what it is,” Peterson said at the scouting combine in February. “The Panthers have to find a pick. It pretty much doesn’t matter what I think or what I have to say about it.

“But this is truly and honor and a blessing just to be in this position anyway. So I’m just going to keep taking it a day at a time.”

Peterson is in his current position because he earned it. Last season, he won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player and Thorpe Award as the best defensive back. The coaches in the SEC voted him the conference’s defensive and special teams player of the year.

Special teams? He averaged 29.1 yards returning kickoffs and 16.1 returning punts last season, after volunteering for the duty.

Because he played in the SEC, Peterson faced Georgia’s A.J. Green and Alabama’s Julio Jones – the top-rated wide-outs in this draft class.

“It could have even better if I could have played those guys each and every week,” Peterson said. “In the NFL, it’s the Joneses and Greens each and every Sunday. But it was a fun experience.

“Those guys definitely helped me elevate my game to the next level each and every time we played.”

The style he played at LSU also prepared Peterson for the next level, because the Tigers used a lot of press coverage.

“I’m very comfortable playing press man, because that’s pretty much all I’ve been taught coming out of college,” Peterson said. “The aggressive style of play that we played at LSU, we always wanted to get after the receiver. We don’t want those guys to get the best of us. Most receivers don’t like press.”

Peterson also made an astute choice when asked which current NFL player he patterned his game after: Charles Woodson, who has been to seven Pro Bowls for the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers after being selected with the fourth pick in the 1998 draft.

“I don’t want to be the next Charles Woodson, but I want to kind of pattern my game after Charles Woodson because he can play each and every defensive position on the field,” Peterson said. “If they gave him an opportunity to play D-tackle or D-end, he’d definitely do it.

“And that’s something I want to do to show the world I definitely can learn – I can learn the scheme and understand the scheme as well. If they need me to play dime, if they need me to play corner, if they need me to play safety – strong safety or rover – I’m definitely down for it.”

Peterson also has bloodlines that would make a Triple Crown winner envious. His cousins include Bryant and Walter McFadden, cornerbacks who were a second-round pick by the Steelers in 2005 and a fifth-round pick by the Raiders last year, respectively; and Santana and Sinorice Moss, receivers who were a first-round pick by the Jets in 2001 and second-round pick by the Giants in 2006, although Santana now is with the Redskins and Sinorice with the Eagles.

Then there is his father, also Patrick, who was his coach through Little League and high school and now runs World Class Speed.

“Since I came out the womb,” Peterson said when asked how long he has been hanging at his father’s facility in Boca, Fla. “My dad has always been teaching me all the little things to help me be the best player that I can be.”

Which is now good enough to be the best player in this draft class, if not the first pick overall.

2011 Draft: Defensive Backs

A look at the positions heading into the April 28-30 NFL Draft (position and overall rankings and projections by Rob Rang, senior analyst for NFLDraftScout.com):

What’s it all mean? The cornerback class has quality at the top – starting with Peterson, who is widely considered the best player and safest pick in this draft class. But there’s also depth, which is good because just about every team in the league is in the market after offenses averaged an all-time high 221.5 passing yards in 2010. That’s why as many as 10 corners could go in the first two rounds. Safety is another story. Last year, Eric Berry and Earl Thomas went 5-14 in the first round to the Chiefs and Seahawks. This year? “It’s a horrible safety class,” said Mike Mayock, draft analyst for the NFL Network.

What about? Rahim Moore. The free safety from UCLA is not only the top-rated safety in this draft class, he’s worth a first-round pick. At least that’s Moore’s take. Rang, however, ranks Moore as the 60th-best player in the draft – way down from 49th earlier in the evaluation process – and projects him to go in the second round. But Moore was the first true freshman to start for the Bruins since Matt Ware in 2001, led the nation with 10 interceptions in 2009 and started 37 consecutive games. 

What’s up with? Smith. Cornerbacks with his size and speed (4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash) don’t come along every year, and are at even more of a premium because so many teams are looking – no, longing – for them. But Smith drew some early red flags because he reportedly failed a drug test and also was arrested twice for alcohol possession during his first two years at Colorado. “I went to college and I made some mistakes,” Smith said at the scouting combine. “I’ve told (NFL teams) I’m a great person. I was a young player who made young mistakes. But I grew as a person.” Seeing is believing, and Smith has grown on some teams during the pre-draft evaluation process. “There is a threshold you fall beyond where we would not consider a player,” Lions GM Martin Mayhew told the Detroit News. “A failed drug test is a cause for concern, but it doesn’t knock you out of the running to be drafted. … I definitely feel better about Jimmy now than before I met him.” The Lions hold the 13th pick in the first round of the draft.

Seahawks situation? They need to get bigger, and better, in the secondary after ranking 27th, 30th and 32nd in pass defense the past three seasons. Acquiring Thomas as a centerfielder of a free safety and cornerback Walter Thurmond (5-11, 190) in the draft last year were two big steps in the right direction, and fifth-round pick Kam Chancellor (6-3, 232) could be a third if he can replace Lawyer Milloy at strong safety. But they still need a bigger corner to play opposite Marcus Trufant, or as the nickel back if Thurmond can become the starter on the right side.