Norv Turner Dealing With Johnson & Patterson At Receiver

The Minnesota Vikings had an awkward year offensively. Veteran quarterback Matt Cassel ended up on Injured Reserve and rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater stepped into the starting role. While Teddy may have taken the starting quarterback and not looked back, there was another position that saw a new face take a starting role.

Nov 30, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner meets with people before the game with the Carolina Panthers at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Starting at wide receiver this season, Cordarrelle Patterson struggled. He ended up only accumulating only 384 yards on 33 catches and only found the end zone once. Meanwhile, midseason free agent acquisition Charles Johnson worked hard to take that starting job from Patterson. Johnson caught 31 passes for 475 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in his 12 games for the Vikings.

According to an article by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner seemed frustrated with Cordarrelle Patterson’s step backward this season. Here’s what he had to say about it:

"“It’s frustrating for him; it’s frustrating for all of us,” Turner said. “We’ve talked a lot about what we need to do, what he needs to do. But a big part of it for him is understanding how detailed and how hard this is to be a receiver in this league. And then he’s got to put the work in.”"

Meanwhile, the emergence of Charles Johnson helped Norv Turner deal with finding a playmaker to start at wide receiver.

"“Part of that was we started playing Charles Johnson, which gave us a different guy on the outside to attack,” Turner said. “It created some differences in how people defended us. I think we became a much more efficient offensive football team and put ourselves in position to win games. We won some and there were some that a year from now, put in the same situation, we’ll be ready to handle it and be ready to win.”"

Patterson how vowed to work hard this offseason with help from the Vikings staff and outside sources to be a bigger part of the Vikings offense. At this point, it has to be believed that Charles Johnson has earned a possible starting job, but anything during the offseason and preseason in the NFL. Patterson could come back ready to play and blow the roof off the place next season.

If that does happen, it would give the Vikings another offensive weapon for their rookie quarterback to play with. If not, Charles Johnson could have a much clearer route to being a possible star for Minnesota.

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