John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
2.) The Vikings have been restructuring their WR group and rumor has it that 2013 1st round pick Cordarrelle Patterson is on the trading block.
There are multiple other media outlets reporting Patterson’s availability but quite a few reporting that he’s no longer on the block after the Vikings release of Greg Jennings. Believe what you want, but after the Vikings traded for Mike Wallace, their starting wide receiver core seems set to me. They have promising 3rd year player Charles Johnson (31, 475, 2, in only 6 starts), speedster Mike Wallace who they just traded a 5th round pick for on the other side, and Jarius Wright in the slot. That’s a pretty solid group but there is a good chance they add QB Teddy Bridgewater’s favorite college target WR Davante Parker with the 12th overall pick of the draft which would make Patterson even more obsolete.
Patterson was a 1st round pick in 2013 (29th overall) who had a promising rookie season (9 total TDs), but had only 33 catches and 2 TDs in 2014. Even if the Vikings don’t draft a WR early, Patterson is starting the season as the 4th WR and kick returner. As a 1st round pick Patterson is already making $2M this season with another million added on next year. Patterson is an explosive kick returner / running back / guy who can’t run any NFL routes. Last season Patterson proved that either he doesn’t understand NFL route trees or just can’t run them. What he can do is find the end zone once the ball is in his hands.
New Bears OC Adam Gase used Broncos WR Demaryious Thomas as a weapon on screens and short passes. Thomas is (6’3 | 229 | 4.38) and Patterson is (6’3 | 220 | 4.33). When Thomas came out of college he was a raw route runner who was explosive with the ball in his hands. That’s Patterson right now. Gase took advantage of Thomas’s unique size / speed combo and helped turn him into an All-Pro WR. It helped that the Broncos had Peyton Manning, but Jay Cutler can throw a screen pass. Switching Patterson in for Thomas in Gase’s scheme could give the Bears a new dimension to their offense.
Patterson’s price tag would probably be relatively high due to the fact that he was a first round pick just two seasons ago, but the Bears do have one valuable asset for 4-3 teams in DE Willlie Young. He had 10 sacks last year in just 65% of defensive snaps for the Bears last year. He’s an awkward fit for the new Bears 3-4 scheme and the Vikings could use a boost to their pass rush after losing out on free agent target DE Michael Johnson (Bengals).
Young has just as much if not more value than Patterson right now, so I could see the Vikings throwing in a conditional draft pick somewhere along the lines of a 4th-7th round pick based on Pattersn’s production next season. Both players are owed about $5-$6M over the next two seasons and could use a change of scenery. In a perfect world the Vikings would take back DE Jared Allen for Patterson straight up (pipe-dream).