Mike Zimmer’s Evolving Position On Cordarrelle Patterson’s Need for a Mentor

A supposed big part of the plan for reclaiming the lost talents of Cordarrelle Patterson was assigning the young receiver a mysterious offseason mentor, an unnamed former player who was going to school the former first round pick on the finer points of his position.

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Mike Zimmer described this part of the Cordarrelle Plan back in December and it sure sounded important (via St. Paul Pioneer-Press):

"“Cordarrelle, he’s a really good kid. He’s very respectful in everything he does,” Zimmer said. “It’s not really about life, although I’m sure this guy will teach him some about life, too. It’s more about playing, being a receiver.”"

To this day, nobody knows the identity of this mentor. We don’t even know if Patterson has met the mentor yet or is supposed to meet him over the summer or what. Such secrecy only reinforces the idea that having a player mentor for Patterson is viewed as really really important.

Or is it?

I ask because of what Mike Zimmer said yesterday when asked to identify a receiver on the team who might take on a mentoring role for Patterson now that Greg Jennings has left. Has Zimmer entirely changed his tune on this whole mentoring thing? It sort of sounds like it (via Pioneer-Press):

"“Hopefully, (offensive coordinator Norv Turner) is his mentor and I’m his mentor,” Zimmer said. “Sometimes that’s way overrated, guys mentoring other guys.”"

Evidently, we were misled about the importance of a former player taking on a mentoring role in Cordarrelle Patterson’s development.

Since the Vikings made a point of mentioning that Patterson would be seeing a mentor, and went to pains to keep the specifics of their plan secret, we just assumed this was a significant thing. But now we’ve been assured that mentoring is way overrated sometimes.

Confused yet?

Maybe I’m making too big a deal about Zimmer’s apparent self-contradiction. Maybe the real pertinent underlying point here is that it’s time for Cordarrelle Patterson to forget about having a mentor and grow up and take responsibility for his own development?

Patterson did make a point of working out with “Hell’s Trainer” this year in an effort to improve his fitness. I didn’t think fitness was necessarily his problem – unless we’re talking about mental fitness – but it can never hurt to be in better shape.

Whatever Patterson does or doesn’t do this offseason, the main thing is that he learns to lock down his focus during the season. This is a guy whose mind clearly tends to wander, and you can’t have that when playing receiver.

Patterson’s new (hopeful) mentors Mike Zimmer and Norv Turner will have to stay on him about that. But in the end, it’s really Patterson’s own responsibility to stay on himself.

Next: Zimmer Has Already Threatened to Maim Danielle Hunter

Mike Zimmer’s Evolving Position On Cordarrelle Patterson’s Need for a Mentor

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