The Arizona Cardinals' new era under wunderkind first-year coach Kliff Kingsbury and electric rookie quarterback Kyler Murray has officially begun. The team's best player, though, remains absent from Arizona's current offseason activities, and there's no telling when he will join them.

When asked by team beat reporter Darren Urban if he expects superstar cornerback Patrick Peterson to be at OTAs later this month, Kingsbury demurred, going out of his way to stress that players are not required to take part.

Peterson has grown crossways with his longtime team of late. He requested a trade midway through last season before ultimately walking it back, and hasn't exactly refuted reports of his desire to play elsewhere over the past few weeks. In late April, rumors surfaced that Arizona was on the verge of trading Peterson to the Kansas City Chiefs, a possibility supported by his cryptic social media posts expressing dismay with the Cardinals and a subsequent post of a photo of he and former teammate Tyrann Mathieu, who signed a three-year deal with the Chiefs as a free agent.

The 28-year-old remains one of the most impactful cornerbacks in all of football. He had 54 tackles, two interceptions, and five passes defensed last season en route to a remarkable eighth consecutive Pro Bowl appearance. Pro Football Focus ranked him as the fifth-best cover man in the NFL in 2018 and 60th-best player overall, evidence of his sustained effectiveness as he nears the wrong side of 30.

Obviously, the Cardinals will be better off the sooner Patrick Peterson reports to the team. For Kingsbury's sake, let's hope it's sooner rather than later.