Analyzing the Minnesota Vikings Receiving Corps

Dec 14, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver

Charles Johnson

(12) runs the ball during the second quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

When the 2014 NFL regular season began, the Minnesota Vikings primary receivers were Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson, with the assumption that Jerome Simpson would receive plenty of playing time once back from his three game suspension. Since then, Simpson never came back and Patterson has hardly seen the field. The obvious questions are what happened and why?

Simpson is easy to explain. He has a history of doing dumb things, did yet another dumb thing, the Vikings got tired of it and he got released. It seems as though his affinity for weed knows no bounds. The Patterson situation is much more complex.

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At this point, I do not think the public will ever know the full reason for Patterson’s sharp decline in playing time, but some of the reasons are clear. For one, the team plucked Charles Johnson off of the scrap heap after releasing Simpson and he has played very well. His positive traits seem to coincide with Patterson’s weaknesses. Johnson is an excellent route runner who has a knack for getting open. With Patterson, it still seems as though he is trying to use athleticism as opposed to precision to beat defensive backs which is much more difficult in the NFL than college, even if he was playing in the SEC. Another contrast is that Johnson, at least according to him, is a gym rat and is very studious, whereas Patterson did not work hard enough in practice by his own admission last season. One would hope that after recognizing that shortcoming in himself that he would be doing everything possible this season to correct it, but it is hard not to speculate that work ethic may be a reason for the reduction in his role.

The other thing few people have been talking about is health. Patterson got banged up in the game against Tampa Bay, and saw a steep decline in production right after. It is possible that he is just now getting healthy. Even on kick returns, which was his specialty in 2013, he had not looked the same recently until the Detroit game. This is purely speculation on my part, but it would not surprise me one bit if that was a product of being less than 100 percent.

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What is interesting is that when Patterson got a chance at the end of the game against Detroit, Teddy Bridgewater looked for him three times. Bridgewater strikes me as a quarterback willing to throw to whoever happens to be open, so as long as Patterson stays on the field and finds some space, he should start seeing the ball again. As Mike Zimmer has touched on while getting asked about Patterson over and over again, there is absolutely no reason for he and the Vikings to want Patterson to fail, so if he earns opportunities, he will receive them.

With Simpson’s suspension and Patterson’s struggles, Johnson has shined. His ball skills leave something to be desired, but he has been a spark plug for this offense and been someone Teddy can count on. The ideal scenario would be for Johnson to keep playing well and even get better, Greg Jennings to keep being Greg Jennings, Patterson to start getting more time and grow into a more complete receiver, and Jarius Wright to get healthy and keep making plays.

The Vikings receiving corps has the makings of a very good unit; only time will tell if their collective promise turns into production.

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