Cordarrelle Patterson has not had the kind of breakout season many observers expected from the second-year receiver out of Tennessee. Far from it.
But head coach Mike Zimmer said he thinks the lack of production also is a product of Patterson's youth.
"I think Cordarrelle is a young, developing player that has been in his third offense in three years, hasn't been a receiver for a long time, so we're going to continue to be patient with him and keep teaching him and keep working with him to try and get him where he needs to be in all those areas," Zimmer said. "I believe that he's going to be a really good player. But everybody is impatient, including me, and I'm sure he is, too. But it will come. It will come. Norv [Turner] and I talk about these things a lot and it takes some guys longer than others ... so it just may take a while."
The story went on to say that Zimmer never enumerated publicly what areas Patterson needs to work on, but it's safe to assume precise route running would be one of them. Patterson is learning Norv Turner's offense, one season after he tried to learn Bill Musgrave's. That was after one season spent playing Division I football at Tennessee, which was just one year after he spent 2011 playing for Hutchinson Community College, the story added. This certainly isn't breaking news to his fantasy owners, as he's begun to pop up on many a waiver wire after going fairly early in drafts. And, it certainly doesn't give much hope to the idea things may turn around sooner than later for Patterson.
Vikings news
