Cordarrelle Patterson

[Mothman]

Yeah, I was thinking of the reports of the team trying to trade up for Manziel. Not sure if Norv preferred Manziel, Spielman, who it may have been. Or if Norv just wanted to get the point across that the team desperately needed a QB and Teddy was there at the point he was? Or maybe he just wanted Teddy all along. Just seems strange a guy with some big question marks about downfield passing would be a guy Norv Turner would want running his offense.

I agree... it IS odd.

[IrishViking]

I agree... it IS odd.

I mean from what I can remember Teddy WOWED them at the private work out. That probably played a big part in it. The other aspect of it, is early on you have to go off of potential. There was an Old Bill Cosby bit where he talks about how the "special" class got to do all the fun trips so he would try and pretend he was an idiot to go along, his teacher would smack him upside the head and say "shut up, we have your test scores, we know you aren't stupid"

That's basically the stage they are in now. He makes the throws in practices, and he has FLASHES in games. You can tell the frustration sometimes where Zimmer is trying to figure out if its Teddy, the Oline, the scheme, or whatever. But for now they have the tests that prove he can do it, the question is will it regularly translate?

[The Breeze]

Yep...TB supposedly makes all the throws in practice, as did Ponder. For some reason it's not completely translating into games. It's less pronounced with TB than Ponder, IMO, but the offense is worse.
Both of them have had bad O-lines, just like every QB that has played here since Culpepper. O-line is the only thing that can be legitemately pointed out as a real issue.
It's easy to see TB needs to get better, but not how much of his development is being hindered by the line. Nor how much it's being hindered by what appears to be Norv's slowness to adjust to that lines ineffectiveness. Norv's system may work fine with TB if the line pans out. But IMO, that will have to happen quickly if nothing else changes in terms of strategy and play calling. My version of a best case scenarion would be to see them field a deeper more talented line while also tweaking the scheme to be more compatible with what TB does best. Also to be more aggressive in terms of scoring TDs.
The conservative attitude on offese may be a direct result of Zimmer, but whatever, I think it's a mistake in the long run.
The Vikings haven't shut anyone out in years and all the teams that have better defenses also field significantly better offenses than them.
It's frustrating cause almost any way you slice it, it may take a couple of seasons before this gets much better.
There's no guarantee the line is a quick fix.

[losperros]

I agree... it IS odd.

Agreed. Very odd. There are other questions that leave me questioning what kind of offensive identity the Vikings truly want from their passing game.

[Mothman]

Cordarrelle Patterson working with ‘Hell’s Trainer’ again in offseason

[dead_poet]

Cordarrelle Patterson working with ‘Hell’s Trainer’ again in offseason

I saw that yesterday. The comments were...pretty predictable.

[Mothman]

I saw that yesterday. The comments were...pretty predictable.

I didn't read the comments but I can probably imagine them pretty easily.

Hopefully, he'll join Teddy Bridgewater to work out again this offseason. I'd sure love to see him work his way back up the WR depth chart in 2016 and make a serious contribution on offense.

[dead_poet]

Hopefully, he'll join Teddy Bridgewater to work out again this offseason. I'd sure love to see him work his way back up the WR depth chart in 2016 and make a serious contribution on offense.

I would, too, but unfortunately I think that ship has sailed. Unless the WR position gets hit with injuries I doubt he's going to get much of an opportunity. And that's assuming Wallace isn't here to compete. The idea of Patterson across from Diggs (who has already show what he's capable of), sounds like it could be pretty exciting.

[Mothman]

I would, too, but unfortunately I think that ship has sailed. Unless the WR position gets hit with injuries I doubt he's going to get much of an opportunity. And that's assuming Wallace isn't here to compete. The idea of Patterson across from Diggs (who has already show what he's capable of), sounds like it could be pretty exciting.

It really does but I'm inclined to agree that ship has sailed. I'm just clinging to hope as long as he's still on the roster.

[The Breeze]

It will be really interesting to see what happens if he has another season like last year.
I'm curious as to his overall mindset about how he is used vs what he thinks he's capable of.
If they offer him a contract to basically return kicks....does he sign it? Do they even offer him one? He'd make a great weapon for some team IMO.
Outside of injury, I don't see him getting a real shot. I'm not sure what kind of strides can be made in practice. Diggs, evidently the best WR of the bunch(?) didn't even dress for the first Qtr of the season and it took an injury for him to play.

[S197]

I'm afraid his chances of seeing the field are very low. By the end of the year he fell to the bottom of the depth chart, below Thielen.

[mondry]

This was his 3rd year right? That's about how long it's suppose to take for a WR to fully transition to the NFL game. In his defense however, the OC change to Turner probably adds a year to that learning a new system and then we also know he was extremely raw to begin with.

Not making excuses or anything like that, I just keep thinking about Ted Ginn and for a team that could really use more offensive pizzazz it seems like they need to do more to give this guy a chance to flourish.

It's a long shot for sure but as long as he's on the roster you just never know.

[The Breeze]

It's sad, cause as Mondry said, 'ya just never know'...as long as he's on the roster he could get a shot. But if he doesn't get that shot, you'll just never know.lol
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I think Thielen is a pretty darn good WR, by the way. He has great hands and seems to get open more often than not when given snaps.
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I'm also high on the Ted Ginn/CP comparison. In the right situation, CP, can be a big headache for a defense, but we kinda have seen that in his rookie year.
I really think the issue stems from trying to make him into what he may not be...although as Mondry said, it's only been 3 seasons for a very raw guy, with a change to a more complicated offense mixed in. If he starts to grasp it, great...cause his athletic ability will push him over the hump. But if he fails at meshing in the traditional role, it's worth noting that Ginn AND Joe Webb are playing significant roles on a Superbowl team elsewhere.

[dead_poet]

From Goessling's mailbag this morning:

@GoesslingESPN: Good morning and happy Friday, everyone -- there were a number of questions about Cordarrelle Patterson this week, so we'll get started here. I thought it was interesting to hear Mike Zimmer say this about Patterson in his season-ending news conference, in what sounded to me like one of those send-a-message-to-a-player answers that Zimmer will occasionally give. "Unfortunately, this is kind of a broken record," Zimmer said. "I said this a year ago: I have hope for him. There's times when the proof's got to be in the pudding. He's got to do this and if he doesn't do it, then that's what he's going to be - he's going to be a returner. At the end of the day, it's really up to him." That suggests the Vikings still aren't satisfied with Patterson's attention to detail as a route runner and a receiver, and with players such as Jarius Wright and Stefon Diggs doing some of the things Patterson used to do, they haven't felt a need to involve him in the offense as much. Could he be more dynamic than the Vikings' other receivers on bubble screens and jet sweeps? Sure. But if you don't trust him to do other things, and he's only on the field in those situations, the offense is going to be awfully predictable. There's frustration in some corners of the organization with the fact the Vikings haven't found ways to get Patterson the ball, but with Jerick McKinnon taking on a bigger role at the end of last season, it's going to be harder for Patterson to re-assert himself in the offense if he can't get on the field as a receiver. Whatever benefit of the doubt he had last season is probably gone, and assuming the Vikings don't pick up his fifth-year option this spring, 2016 could be his final year with the team.

[Mothman]

From Goessling's mailbag this morning:

I would LOVE to get a little more detail about the little nugget of information highlighted in bold above.

Thanks for the link!