AP

There’s been little about the first three years of Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson’s NFL career that would lead the team to end their working relationship with him anytime soon.

The question is when they decide to lock Peterson up for several more years. He’s eligible for an extension now, but the team holds a fifth-year option on his services that they can exercise up to May 3. Barring an extension, there’s little chance that the Cardinals would pass on the option. It would pay Peterson a salary equal to that of the 10 best-paid cornerbacks in the league, which may wind up being less than they’d have to pay him as part of a contract extension.

Peterson said he wants to stick around Arizona for the long term and would love an extension this offseason, but that he knows that it may take a while because of the option in his rookie deal.

“I’m under contract for two more years, so I want to continue playing great football,” Peterson said, via ArizonaSports.com. “Whenever [General Manager] Steve Keim and [team president] Michael Bidwill address me and my agent, we’ll go from there. … Of course I would like an extension to stay here for a while, but it’s a business so we have to wait and see what happens.”

The cushion provided by the option in 2015 should allow the Cardinals to take care of other business first this offseason before turning their attention to Peterson.