A Closer Look At Sporting KC Forward Jacob Peterson

When Sporting Kansas City announced they had signed forward Jacob Peterson, I would almost be willing to guarantee that most of you were asking yourself, "Who?"

Don't worry; I was asking the same question.

Anyone can look up a player's stats or a bio to find out the basics about someone, but I wanted to find out what kind of player Sporting Kansas City were really getting with the Peterson acquisition, the good and the bad, so I got in touch with a couple of SB Nation bloggers; Duncan Fletcher, who runs the Toronto FC blog "Waking the Red," and Robert Jonas, who is the managing editor over at the San Jose Earthquakes blog, "Quake, Rattle, and Goal."

Peterson most recently played with San Jose, and before being traded there, was a member of Toronto FC, so both Jonas and Fletcher have quite a bit of insight on Jacob. I asked Robert and Duncan to share their thoughts on Jacob Peterson, and they were both nice enough to oblige.

Check out what they had to say after the jump..

Duncan Fletcher, managing. editor of Waking the Red

He's a decent unspectacular player who'll never really screw you over, but will rarely shine either. Don't know if you guys renegotiated his contract at all, but he was at about $142,500 last year, which is way too much for a good average MLS player.

He was a right winger before he got here, and that's where we played him during 2010. He was ok, but he needs to be in a supportive formation as we played very defensively under Preki and he wasn't good enough to flourish in those conditions.

In 2011 he generally filled in as a central midfielder, and he did a surprisingly good job there. Again, he wasn't outstanding, but he got the basics done well in a quiet trouble free way, very rarely making mistakes, but also not contributing much going forward either.

He was very good at set pieces, not a Beckham-esque goal threat, but was generally quite accurate with corners and free kicks into the box. A decent depth pickup, who could play competently in a few different positions. The sort of average MLS player any team needs to fill out it's roster. You won't end up loving him, but at the same time, his name on the teamsheet won't give you a sense of dread.

Robert Jonas, managing editor of Quake, Rattle, and Goal

Jacob Peterson seemed to be an afterthought in the trade that brought him along with Alan Gordon and Nana Attakora to San Jose for forward Ryan Johnson. It looked more like a TFC salary dump in including the veteran midfielder in the deal, when for all intents and purposes it was Gordon that the Earthquakes prized.

Nonetheless, even though he was gimpy upon his arrival, Peterson put in some good shifts for the Quakes during a difficult run of summer games. That he assisted late in the away match at TFC on the game tying goal was a bonus and probably represented the high water mark for his limited stay in the Bay Area.

Peterson stopped getting regular minutes as the season wound down and head coach Frank Yallop played with a short rotation of players. He was effective as an outside midfielder when given the chance, but not exceptionally fast. That lack of pace resulted in him being let go by the Quakes as they looked to strengthen the wing in 2012 with speedy players.

Peterson is outspoken, but refreshing to be around, and I always enjoyed interacting with him. I am sure you will get to like having him around LSP, and he will be an important part of the roster depth in midfield.