We Know Who Was Supposed To "Mentor" Cordarrelle Patterson This Offseason

This past offseason, one of the big stories surrounding the Minnesota Vikings was the drop-off of wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson and, more specifically, what the Vikings were going to do about it. It was said that Vikings' head coach Mike Zimmer had set up a "mentor" for Patterson to work with during the offseason, but that Patterson ultimately shrugged it off and pretty much did his own thing.

Well, according to a piece on Pro Football Talk this morning, it appears that we might know exactly who that mentor was supposed to be.

Then there's former first-round pick Cordarrelle Patterson, who has been relegated primarily to kick-return duties. On NFL Network's GameDay Morning, Michael Irvin said he was asked in the offseason by coach Mike Zimmer and offensive coordinator Norv Turner to work with Patterson on running intermediate routes — and the importance of wanting the ball more than the defense in that territory.

I'll put this mildly. . .if Cordarrelle Patterson had an opportunity to work with a Hall of Fame receiver this offseason in order to get himself right and make a bigger contribution to the team and refused to do so, his head might be in relatively close proximity to his fourth point of contact. Honestly, you can say what you want about Michael Irvin the analyst or Michael Irvin the person, but Michael Irvin the wide receiver is one of the best to ever play the game, and if he was willing to go out of his way to help Cordarrelle Patterson out, the only questions should have been "when" and "where," not "why?"

As it is, Patterson is now an afterthought at receiver after bursting onto the scene in late 2013. What an absolutely missed opportunity this was for him.

Note: NorZeman had this in the FanPosts about half an hour before I put this post up. My apologies for not catching it.