Falcons' Cordarrelle Patterson: Likely won't be workhorse back

Atlanta rested Patterson during all of the team's spring workouts with the intention of heading into the regular season with him fully healthy, but expecting the converted return man to operate as a workhorse back in 2022 may be overly optimistic, per Josh Kendall of The Athletic.

Patterson will be Atlanta's starting running back to open 2022 after his breakout performance (1,166 total yards and 11 touchdowns) last season. However, the Falcons are expected to continue taking a cautious approach with the running back to avoid another late-season decline, so it's possible the 2013 first-round pick finds himself in a timeshare to start the upcoming campaign. While the 31-year-old still is expected to garner a major role, Kendall urges fans to pump the brakes on him improving on last season's numbers and suggests that anything other than regression would be a win for Patterson and the Falcons.