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Cordarrelle Patterson’s NFL future via Adam Inman & Josh Mensch
Cordarrelle Patterson and his place on the Minnesota Vikings has been debated for much of this off season, many sites and writers have floated rumors of a potential draft day blockbuster that would be a sign Minnesota has thrown in the towel on the slow-to-progress former first round pick. Fantasy Football Helpers Josh Mensch (@joshmenschNFL) from fantasyfootballhelpers.com and a blogger for rantsports.com and myself, Adam Inman (@adaminman) from FFLockerRoom, have openly debated whether or not the athletic super star gets traded. Below Josh and myself will lay out our cases, you decide which story you are buying.
Cordarrelle Patterson WILL be traded:
Patterson, the 29th pick in the first round of the 2013 draft, came out of Tennessee after a great Junior season and was poised to make a massive impact for the Vikings (remember the Seattle Seahawks traded a flurry of picks for Percy Harvin). Through two seasons Patterson has shown breathtaking ability in the return game but has been the dictionary definition of inconsistent as a Wide Receiver. His routes are loose or wrong, he still has a tendency to catch the ball against his body as opposed to using his hands and he routinely drops catchable balls. Patterson’s lack of progression is far from the only issue, as explained below the Vikings are suddenly flush with pass catchers and the pick he’d net could help patch one of several need areas.
I submit that the Vikings are doing everything this off season to prepare themselves for life without Patterson. The emergence of both Charles Johnson and Jarius Wright, both who finished last year well ahead of Patterson on the depth chart, has rendered Patterson as the 3rd WR (at best) heading into this off season. But wait, the Vikings went and acquired one of the worst Wide Receiver contracts in the league, relative to production, when they sent a 5th round pick to Miami for Mike Wallace and a 7th rounder.
Wallace is a vertical threat that brings little else to the table and has been whispered to be a locker room problem as well. So why would a team that was already busting at the seems with Wide Receiver talent make a move for this guy? Because, one of the preexisting pass catchers is not in their future plans. It was clear from the Jump that Patterson was struggling to grasp Norv Turner’s system; and even when they trade him they’ll go Wallace, Wright in the slot, Johnson opposite Wallace with Rudolph at the Tight End. Even without Patterson this Vikings passing attack is just plain scary.
Cordarrelle Patterson WILL NOT be traded:
- Mike Zimmer’s Off-season Plan
At his end-of-season press conference Mike Zimmer made an inference that Cordarrelle Patterson would be working with someone in the off-season. While the identity was unknown however recently it was reported former Patriots WR/DB Troy Brown could potentially be Patterson’s mentor.
If Brown is in fact Patterson’s mentor I could not think of a better guy to take the ultra-athletic, yet raw receiver and help him refine his ability into a polished NFL receiver. If you remember Brown from his days with the Patriots he never had the benefit of having the athletic gifts Patterson possesses. Despite not being a top-flight athlete Brown was a great route-runner and attacked the football in the ball in the air as well as any receiver in his time.
Working with Brown I feel that could mean Patterson could see extended time in the slot next season. It was thought Jarius Wright would replace Jennings as the Vikings’ slot receiver, however I feel Wright projects better as a reserve at split-end (behind Wallace) opposed to a full-time wide receiver. With Patterson’s blend of size and athletic ability would create serious mismatches against slower safeties and linebackers.
- Familiarity with System
Entering the 2013 NFL Draft one of the main knocks on Patterson’s game was his inexperience playing the game of football. With only one season of D1 college experience and a change in coaching staff after his rookie season in the NFL Patterson has never had the benefit of learning the same playbook for consecutive years.
This offseason Patterson has the benefit of learning Norv Turner’s offensive system playbook for a full offseason. I am willing to give Patterson the benefit of the doubt for the sophomore slump in 2014 and still believe that he has the potential to be an dynamic play maker within the Vikings offense.
Special thanks again to Josh Mensch of fantasyfootballhelpers.com for writing this piece with me
Source: http://fflockerroom.com/2015/03/29/cordarrelle-pattersons-nfl-future-via-adam-inman-josh-mensch/
