Kevin Peterson enters his second season as a defensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers, working primarily with the cornerbacks.

Kevin Peterson enters his second season as a defensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers, working primarily with the cornerbacks.

In his first season in Carolina (2025), cornerback Jaycee Horn earned a second straight Pro Bowl selection, tying for the lead among all NFL corners with five interceptions. Along with cornerback Mike Jackson, the pair combined for nine of the team's eighth ranked 15 interceptions and were one of only six teams to have multiple players with at least four interceptions. Additionally, Jackson tied for the league lead with a career-high 19 passes defensed.

Peterson spent 2024 as cornerbacks coach for Colorado State-Pueblo. Under his coaching, the ThunderWolves, who finished the season with a 10-2 overall record, ended the season ranked No. 8 in the final AFCA Division II Coaches Poll presented by Hudl and ranked No. 11 in the final D2Football.com Media poll.

Following a six-year playing career, Peterson was part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship program with the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals (2023-24). An undrafted free agent with Chicago (2016), he played 36 games for the Rams and Cardinals and recorded 47 total tackles, two interceptions, nine passes defended and two fumble recoveries.

A standout defensive back at Oklahoma State University (2012-15), Peterson was a First-Team All-Big 12 selection as a senior (2015) and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. A team captain that season, he recorded 36 solo tackles, six assisted tackles, one interception, six pass break-ups and one fumble recovery.

As a player at Wagoner High School in Wagoner, Okla., Peterson was named Oklahoma's Defensive Player of the Year by The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World Player of the Year and earned SuperPrep All-American honors and was ranked by Rivals as the seventh best prospect in Oklahoma. In his high school career, he recorded 1,621 rushing yards, 25 rushing touchdowns, 42 tackles and three interceptions his senior year in 2011 en route to helping Wagoner to the school's first-ever Class 4A State title. He also competed in track and field and basketball and in 2011, he won the State Championship in both the 100 meters and 200 meters.

Peterson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in University Studies from Oklahoma State in 2023. He and his wife, Toria, are the parents of a son, Krew and a daughter, Kole.

PLAYING CAREER:

• 2012-15 | Oklahoma State
• 2016-18 | Los Angeles Rams
• 2019-21 | Arizona Cardinals

COACHING CAREER:

• 2024 | Colorado State-Pueblo - Cornerbacks
• 2025-Pres. | Carolina Panthers - Defensive Assistant