Cordarrelle Patterson will get more playing time, per Leslie Frazier
The Minnesota Vikings traded a slew of draft picks to the New England Patriots in order to pull dynamic receiver Cordarrelle Patterson off of the board with the 29th pick in the draft, and this trade capped off an aggressive night for the Vikings in which they picked up three first-round draft picks. We knew Patterson was raw, but it is still surprising to see that the Vikings have played Patterson for just 11 snaps this season. He’s a talented player who deserves more playing time on this offense, and he has shown his immense playmaking ability on returns. 11 snaps is almost nothing, and the Vikings will need to put Patterson on the field sooner than later.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson (84) returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears during the first quarter at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Like the Pittsburgh Steelers with Markus Wheaton (12 snaps this year), the Minnesota Vikings are saying that they will finally give Cordarrelle Patterson more snaps. Patterson has a chance to be a big playmaker for the Vikings offense, even if he has some route-running issues. Those are common for rookies, and the Vikings would do well to take some of Jerome Simpson’s playing time away in order to give Patterson some of those snaps.
Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier stated that it is the Vikings fault for not giving Cordarrelle Patterson much playing time, and he stated that the team will rectify that. Per the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “It’s just an oversight on our part; a major oversight because Cordarrelle is a playmaker. He should be out there. We’ve just got to get him on the field.”
It sounds like we should see the playmaking rookie wideout from Tennessee quite often on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, and I want to see how they utilize Patterson in their offense. Will they use him as the “X”? That seems to be the most logical option, and we’ll see just how many snaps he plays and how much he gets targeted; Patterson can give the Vikings offense a valuable playmaking dimension.
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