Jerome Simpson Arrest: Vikings Wide Receiver To Play Sunday, May Not Start

By now we've all heard that Jerome Simpson got himself into another mess this past weekend. While I was heading out to my stand for deer hunting opener early Saturday morning, he was getting arrested on suspicion of DWI. The deer got away from me Scot-free this weekend but it doesn't sound like Simpson will be as lucky. As Kyle discussed earlier today, Simpson's long-term future with the Minnesota Vikings looks pretty bleak.

However, Simpson still appears to be a part of the immediate future for his team. Leslie Frazier said that they expect Simpson to be in the lineup as they visit the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday despite his arrest. But Frazier wouldn't say whether or not Simpson would take his usual spot in the starting lineup.

Most Vikings fans have been clamoring for more snaps for rookie wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson all year; this might be the perfect opportunity for the team to give the people what they want. Patterson has played around 15-25 snaps per game for the past two months. Expect that number to increase if Simpson sits and Patterson gets his first career start. Frazier told the Strib's Mark Craig that they were planning to keep giving Patterson more reps anyway:

We intended to continue to get him more reps, and you saw it in the Washington game and the prior one, trying to get him more reps. That was a part of the plan anyway, and it definitely will be a part of the plan now, with some of the concerns that we have.

Hopefully Patterson will seize the opportunity and make his increased role count against the very tough Seahawks secondary. I doubt many people will miss Jerome Simpson when he's inevitably gone in 2014, but he's still the team leader in receiving yards. The Vikings need to fill the void at wide receiver just as much as Simpson needs to fill the void between his ears when he's off the field.