Vikings receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, one of three first-round picks in 2013, has yet to justify his draft status. On Sunday, he’ll get another chance to show what he can do.
Starter Charles Johnson is out due to injury, and slot receiver Jarius Wright is banged up. That should give Patterson more opportunities.
The bad news for Patterson? With Johnson, the guy who took Patterson’s starting job in 2014, out for Sunday, Adam Thielen not Patterson gets the start.
Through three games, Patterson has only one catch for three yards. Apparently Patterson doesn’t see that lack of production as cause for showing the team something more.
“I don’t know how much more I need to prove,” Patterson said Friday, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Plenty is what Patterson needs to prove, especially with the Vikings facing a May 3 decision on whether to pick up Patterson’s option for 2017. At this point, there’s no way they’d squat on Patterson for another year.