The Patriots lost Danny Amendola and Dion Lewis to free agency, so they have taken steps to fill their voids in the return game by reportedly trading for former first-round pick Cordarrelle Patterson.
The news was first reported by Pardon My Take.
Breaking - Reports out of Oakland, recurring guest WR Cordarrelle Patterson expected to be traded to the Patriots per sources. Please credit
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) March 18, 2018
Multiple other journalists from both the Oakland and New England sides of have confirmed the news. Vic Tafur of The Athletic SF says he was expecting a move with Patterson to begin with, indicating the wide receiver could have been released had the Raiders not found a trading partner.
The move will save Oakland $3.2 million in salary-cap space. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Pats sent a fifth-round pick to the Raiders and received a sixth-round pick in return.
Patterson spent just a season with the Raiders, catching 31 passes for 309 yards and zero touchdowns. Patterson also carried the ball 13 times for 121 yards and two scores. Oddly, he had his least-effective season as a return man, piling up only 538 yards on kick returns.
Amendola was the primary punt returner for the Pats last year (27 returns for 231 yards), while Lewis handled kick-return duties last season (23 returns for 570 yards). Amendola signed with the Dolphins this season and Lewis scored a big free-agency deal from the Titans, leaving the Patriots with a pretty big void in that department.
Julian Edelman could handle return duties, but that's putting a lot of additional stress on a wide receiver who is returning from a torn ACL. The Patriots certainly would prefer to use him in just the passing game.
Hence the trade for Patterson, who can slide in and take over as a primary returner, while also giving the Patriots a dangerous weapon they can use in certain offensive sets.
Patterson was drafted by the Vikings in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, one of three different first-round picks -- Shariff Floyd, Xavier Rhodes and Patterson -- Minnesota came away with that year. In college he looked like someone who could become a lethal weapon in the passing game, but he never fully developed as a wide receiver.
