Cordarrelle Patterson was one of the Bears’ biggest weapons last season. And he barely saw the field on offense.
Patterson was named a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler for his impressive performance as a kick returner. But those moments that Patterson was involved on offense, he made some impressive plays that kept the chains moving and led to points that were hard to come by in 2019.
But Patterson only played on 18.9 percent of Chicago’s offensive snaps in 2019. He had 11 catches for 83 yards and added 103 yards on 17 carries, including a 46-yard rush.
The Bears need to find a way to get Patterson more involved in the offense, and it sounds like that’s the plan in 2020.
“Yeah, that’s a guy Matt and I have talked about just making sure we’re maximizing his talent,” Ryan Pace told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine this week. “Obviously he’s an explosive, talented player. That can be at running back, receiver, returner. We’re going to make sure we’re getting the most out to that player because he’s too talented not to.”
While Patterson is officially listed as a receiver, his versatile skillset cannot be defined by a single box. Patterson’s playmaking ability can come on special teams as a kick returner or on offense as a receiver or, yes, as a running back.
Patterson first saw action at running back during his time with the Patriots, where he started back-to-back games in place of the injured Sony Michel. During that 2018 season, Patterson had 42 carries for a career-high 228 yards and one touchdown.
One of the focal points for the Bears this offseason will be to fix their ailing run game. While they drafted rookie David Montgomery to kickstart the run game, it was anything but reassuring. Montgomery had a decent season, but the Bears didn’t trade up for decent.
How do the Bears fix their run game? Getting Patterson more involved in the run game is an option that the Bears are exploring.
“We like the group we have right now,” Pace said. “I think Tarik (Cohen), when he’s rolling, it gives us a scatback. We call it a joker back. And then David, with his ability to break tackles and run with power, and then as we talked, about, you know, maybe sprinkling in Cordarrelle Patterson some and his explosiveness. So, and Ryan Nall, we like Ryan Nall a lot. We like our running backs. That doesn’t mean we can’t continue to add to the room, but I think right now we have a lot of different flavors there that all feed off each other.”
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