Minnesota Vikings: 6 things to watch for in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers

Aug 29, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson (84) returns a kick off 108 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Cordarrelle Patterson’s playing time

Patterson was complaining about playing in the final preseason game despite being now a much talked about third string wide receiver. The problem will always be that Cordarrelle Patterson has a whole lot of talent, but his ability to turn that into good football plays is just not there. If you are a receiver and you can’t run a route, well, you are going to have issues.

Patterson will be the return man on kickoffs, but that’s about the only guarantee right now for the amount we’ll see of Patterson. If I was Mike Zimmer, I would love to get the ball to Patterson more because he’s athletic enough to make things happen, but if you can’t trust him out on the field… Patterson’s making the coaching staffs life a hell of a lot harder than it should be

I hope Patterson gets his head on right and the opportunity to figure it out, but I’m not going to hold my breath on it either.

Next: Just kick it!