With a limited amount of cap room, particularly after franchise-tagging defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, the Atlanta Falcons have managed themselves out of the top-end free agent market in 2019.
That leaves very little room for Atlanta’s front office to do anything other than address a few minor roster holes in free agency by signing a couple under the radar names that would add depth and special teams value. With that in mind, today’s potential free agent target profile is wide receiver/kick return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson, a former first-round pick that spent last season with the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
Cordarrelle Patterson
Age: 27
Size: 6-foot-2, 220 pounds
Position: WR/KR/RB
2018 Stats: 21 catches, 243 receiving yards, three touchdowns; 23 kickoff returns, 663 yards, 1 touchdown
Career Stats: 184 catches, 1,872 yards 10 touchdowns; 176 kickoff returns, 5,276 yards, six touchdowns
Why he makes sense: Patterson would add more depth at wide receiver and running back along with radically upgrading the Falcons’ kick return game — which ranked just No. 17 with a 22.2-yard average last year. Patterson is unquestionably the game’s top kick returner and helped lead New England to the league’s second-highest return average (27.2 yards per attempt). Patterson will continue to be a versatile swiss-army knife for whichever team he signs with.
Why he doesn’t: Returners need to be cheap and expendable, which is why rookies usually do the job. Every year it seems some team finds a great kick returner late in the draft, so general manager Thomas Dimitroff may choose to continue down that route in the hopes of finding a gem. The team was reported to be analyzing the return specialists and blocking tight ends especially close early at the NFL Combine last week.
Probability: Low/Medium
The Falcons made a similar move in 2017 by signing Andre Roberts, who they let go after just one year. Patterson is a major improvement over Roberts or anyone else Atlanta can put out there as a returner right now. If the price is right, he’s absolutely worth a look.
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