Vikings Take Risk With Patterson

The Vikings surprised many to taking receiver Cordarrelle Patterson from Tennessee with the 29th pick in the first round after giving 4 draft picks to New England for the right to take Patterson.  The two risks are;

1) Giving up too much (2nd rounder, 3rd rounder, 4th rounder and 7th rounder)
2) Patterson is a project.

Patterson played just 1 year at Tennessee and has some bad habits of hanging onto the ball.  He tends to catch the ball with the help of his body and not just with his hands and he fumbled the ball and dropped passes in key situations for Tennessee.  Is he big (6'2) for receiver? yes.  Is he fast (4.37 40-yard dash)?  yes.  Can the Vikings turn him into a #1 receiver?  Time will tell.

The Vikings could have waited until the 52nd pick in the 2nd round and taken receivers options like Robert Woods, Keenan Allen or maybe Justin Hunter.  Those players offer similar talent with more immediate ability but lack the high end talent Patterson does.

Viking General Manager Rick Spielman has a great first round track record and we'll just have to trust his judgement.