Minnesota Vikings: Cordarrelle Patterson should be a healthy scratch moving forward

Just for fun, I’m going to begin with a few simple statistics regarding Cordarrelle Patterson’s performance so far this season.

• For the season (six games), Cordarrelle Patterson has been on the field for exactly 40 offensive snaps, which is 12% of the team’s total number of snaps and just over six snaps per game. This is by far the least amount of snaps among Vikings WRs. (via footballoutsiders.com)
• In those six snaps, Patterson has been targeted exactly twice by Teddy Bridgewater. To his credit, Patterson has caught both balls, but only for a total of 10 yards.
• Patterson also has recorded one carry for nine yards thus far.
• Patterson has returned nine kickoffs for 221 yards for a 24.6 yards per return average, good enough for 12th in the NFL.

Overall, Cordarrelle Patterson has been a non-factor for the Minnesota Vikings this season. We’ve now entered a situation now where making Patterson a healthy inactive is the best thing to do moving forward for the Vikings.

Do I feel this way is Stefon Diggs doesn’t emerge the way he has in the past couple of games? No, probably not. But that’s beside the point. Whether you’re a fan of Patterson or not, one thing is clear: for whatever reason, the Vikings coaching staff doesn’t seem to want to utilize Patterson’s unique abilities. For this reason, Patterson is basically a wasted active player each week.

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Diggs’ emergence has made it completely unthinkable to bench him. Adam Thielen came up big in the Week 4 contest against the Broncos, catching six of eight targets for 70 yards. Charles Johnson appears to be getting back to full strength as he recovers from a rib injury, and his 2014 performance proves that he can be a consistently solid starting wide receiver in the NFL. The same goes for Jarius Wright. And, of course, Mike Wallace won’t be on the bench in this universe.

That leaves Patterson as the Vikings’ sixth wide receiver. Could the Vikings theoretically keep six wide receivers active? Sure, sure they could. But it wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever. The Vikings are already chalked full of bodies at the cornerback position right now, as Jabari Price has been a healthy scratch the past couple weeks and now Josh Robinson is returning from the PUP list this week. So, basically, this week would be a wacky time to start keeping six wide receivers active and, frankly, I’d be surprised if the Vikings do that.

As far as Patterson’s kick returning ability, yes, he’s been solid this season at 12th in the NFL. And yes, he did take one 105 yards to the house in the preseason. However, it’s clear that teams are starting to figure Patterson out. He’s clearly on the decline from what he displayed in his rookie season.

Furthermore, the Vikings have plenty of other options that would fill in nicely as kick returner. Marcus Sherels has had success in the past few seasons as a punt returner, and he currently ranks 12th in the NFL in punt return average. Also, Diggs has experience kick returning from his days at Maryland, where he returned a total of 57 kicks for 1472 yards (a 25.8 average) and two touchdowns.

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I’m not trying to argue against Patterson’s talent. I think he does have some talent and, if used correctly, it could be an asset for an NFL team. However, it’s not happening for the Vikings. The coaching staff just doesn’t use him enough or effectively enough in the offense. And now, with Diggs emerging as yet another weapon in the offense with a similar skillset to Patterson’s (except he can actually run routes better than a goldfish), there’s just no fit for Patterson anymore.

In reality, this move probably won’t happen. If the Vikings do actually bench the former first-round pick, they’d be acknowledging that he’s a bust. I’m not sure Mike Zimmer would have a problem with it, but Rick Spielman might not want to go through with this. Either way, the right move, and the logical move, is to put Patterson on the bench for the time being.

It hurts to say that a former first-round pick in Patterson should be a healthy scratch, but it only makes sense for the Vikings this season. As for the future, well, it doesn’t appear as if Patterson will have much success in Minnesota as long as Norv Turner and Mike Zimmer are around. Maybe he can field some trade value this offseason. Maybe he can have success for another team. Those are both real possibilities.

What doesn’t seem like a possibility right now, though, is Patterson being an effective weapon for the Vikings anytime soon. For the time being, Cordarrelle Patterson needs to be a healthy inactive.

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All stats, unless otherwise noted, are courtesy of ESPN.com