Vikings Message Board.Com

hibbingviking wrote:percy harvin will never be a larry fitzgerald cordarrelle Patterson could be.

Now consider this bold proclamation from Baggett: “When you look at just the sheer speed and athleticism, Cordarrelle may have even more explosion than Randy had. Honestly. He’s that special.”

Let your imagination run wild with that endorsement. Then do as Baggett did, take a deep breath and understand the context.

“I don’t want people misinterpreting me as saying Cordarrelle is better or will be better than Randy Moss,” Baggett said. “When it comes to everything else that’s needed to be an elite NFL receiver, he has a long way to go to reach Randy. But he definitely has that ability. He really does.”

So now here’s the puzzle that needs solving: How can the Vikings unlock Patterson’s potential and turn him into a Pro Bowler? How can they take a kid who has so much football to learn and still bring out his strengths at every stage of his education?

dead_poet wrote: http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 56991.html

So here’s the crazy thing: A few years back when Baggett took his Moss montage to recruit a 6-3, 205-pound dynamo at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, he was instantly speaking the kid’s language.

Cordarrelle Patterson, it turned out, wore No. 84 as a tribute to his favorite receiver growing up. He always had marveled at Moss’s game-breaking skills and had used his own rare size, speed and athleticism to deliver a junior college YouTube clip that magnetized Baggett and the Volunteers his way.

Mothman wrote:Some good stuff about Patterson from Kevin Siefert's blog:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... itive-step

I understand why coaches would want efficiency and continuity of movement from receivers and all other positions as well. But as Jennings reflects over his career, he has come to consider it in a different light. The Vikings have asked him to serve as Patterson's mentor on and off the field, and that's what Jennings has chosen to emphasize.

"Sometimes what makes a player what he is, is the thing we try to take away," Jennings said. "It comes natural. That's a gift. You can't really teach that. He has it. And I remember, that was me. I was coming out and sticking everything. And the coaches were like, 'We just want to round it, we just want to round it.' Slowly but surely, I started rounding everything. The route still looks good, but it just doesn't have that crispness about it."

Jennings also spoke about the more obvious parts of Patterson's game, most notably his top gear. "If you see the back of his jersey," Jennings said, "you might a well stop running, because it's over."

But if you want to know what has the football professionals so impressed with him, Jennings' explanation is as good as any. He's got an "it' that not everyone has, one that Jennings has advised him to ride rather than hide.

Yet within the organization there’s also recognition that Patterson faces an incredibly steep learning curve. And as minicamp wraps up Thursday, closing a dizzying stretch of offseason orientation, even Patterson acknowledges that the volume of information he has been asked to absorb has been eye-opening.

Just skimming the bulky playbook for the first time proved daunting for a 22-year-old who confesses he spent most of his college career as “that guy slacking in the playbook,” rarely driven to study his craft.

“I never really had time enough to learn and develop all I needed to learn,” he said. “And a lot of times you’re the best one of the field, the biggest, the fastest. You can go off your ability.”

Mothman wrote:Some good stuff about Patterson from Kevin Siefert's blog:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... itive-step

dead_poet wrote:Rookie Premiere: Vikings WR Cordarrelle Patterson (video)
http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/vide ... d606516663

dead_poet wrote:Rookie Premiere: Vikings WR Cordarrelle Patterson (video)
http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/vide ... d606516663

Eli wrote: McGinest: 9 route or bubble screen?

Patterson: Bubble screen.

That's disturbing. The Vikings just spent a first round draft pick on a wide receiver who'd rather run a bubble screen than a go route. I feel another Percy Harvin headache coming on.