NFL Player News

Vikings receiver Cordarrelle Patterson told NFL.com he plans to be a "top-five playmaker" in 2014. "I'm a playmaker, I like to make plays," he said. "Like I tell them, just get the ball in my hands, I feel like I'm special with it. I just like to do special things with the ball."

Patterson scored nine touchdowns last season: four as a receiver, three as a rusher and two on kickoff returns.

New Raiders left tackle Donald Penn told Sirius XM NFL Radio that the team will be run-heavy in 2014, seemingly good news for Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden. "We're gonna run the ball, run the ball, then run it again, until the defense stops us," Penn said.

Oakland averaged 27.3 rushing attempts last year, which ranked 16th.

Jets running back Chris Johnson didn't like the way he was released by the Titans, and he said that will motivate him throughout the season.

"Of course I have a chip on my shoulder," Johnson told the New York Post. "It gives me more motivation to continue to work hard and come here and be that guy I’ve been my whole career. I want to prove [the Titans] wrong. They released me and I want to let them know they made a mistake."

Johnson had a torn meniscus in his left knee fixed, and he expects to be at full strength for training camp, the paper said. He believes he'll provide "a home-run threat" to the Jets offense.

Johnson, 28, has run for at least 1,000 yards in each of his six seasons.

Despite the offseason signing of Donald Brown, Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich told the team's website that running back Ryan Mathews "is the pounder." Added Reich: "He’s going to be the primary workhorse. He’s our guy."

Mathews ran for a career-high 1,255 yards on 285 carries with six touchdowns last year.

The Ravens are still waiting to hear how long running back Ray Rice will be unavailable to begin the season with a possible suspension, reports ESPN.

The report says Rice is expected to receive a multi-game suspension for allegedly striking his fiancée unconscious in February. The report suggests a suspension of two to four games for Rice would follow the league's recent track record with first-time offenders. 

If Rice is going to miss a major chunk of the season, the Ravens would give Bernard Pierce, Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro more snaps this summer, especially later in the preseason. If Rice is only going to be suspended for a couple of games, the Ravens' rotation at running back may not change significantly.

Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner told Fox Sports that second-year receiver Cordarrelle Patterson has improved his route-running.

"The most obvious thing, and you see it when he returns kicks, is he's a natural runner," Turner said. "He's got great instincts when he gets the ball in his hand and he makes great run decisions. He's got great vision. I think from Day 1 to now he's improved as a route runner. He's been very serious about working as a route runner."

Turner said receivers coach George Stewart has done a great job tutoring Patterson on the details of running routes. "He's so explosive when he comes off the ball the way he's capable of coming off the ball," Turner said of the 6-2, 220-pound Patterson. "He creates problems for defensive backs. I think he's made great strides."

Quarterback Matt Cassel echoed those sentiments, saying Patterson has made "a tremendous amount of progress."

"I think the offseason was huge for him in terms of his progress and just being able to really learn," Cassel said. "He's still a young player. He only played a year in college and he was a year at JC [junior college] and now only a year here, and he played sparingly last year for us at receiver. But I think this has been a huge offseason for him to learn, to see Greg [Jennings] do it last year and now to kind of start to apply it more in this offseason."

Vikings star running Adrian Peterson doesn't expect to lose a lot of playing time to rookie Jerick McKinnon, but he does see some very good things out of him. 

"He's pretty impressive and there's not too many guys who impress me like that, especially rookies coming in," Peterson said of the third-round pick out of Georgia Southern according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "He's been able to do some real good things in the offense, picking it up well and just his running style."

McKinnon says a lot has been put on his plate by offensive coordinator Norv Turner, plus he'll also do some kickoff returns. Speculation is that he could end up as the team's third-down back this season. 

Roy Helu has held down the Redskins' third-down role among running backs for the past couple of seasons, but it doesn't mean he's a cinch to continue to do so. The team has Chris Thompson and Lache Seastrunk on the roster to compete with him, plus Helu has never shown excellent traits of a make-you-miss type of back. 

The Washington Post surmises that experience should keep Helu ahead of the other candidates for the job, but that any strong work this summer by Thompson or Seastrunk could change that. 

Andre Ellington is pretty much locked into the Cardinals' starting running back job heading into training camp, but he won't hog all of the carries. Cards coach Bruce Arians told ESPN that backups Jonathan Dwyer and Robert Hughes have each been a pleasant surprise so far this offseason. 

"(Dwyer) is in better shape and he's running routes and catching the ball better than I remember," Arians said. "I know he'll pound you and can really run the football. I know he can pass block. But he caught the ball extremely well. He made some catches in the red zone for us. That was a surprise." 

As for Hughes, the former Colts backup rusher, Arians called him "outstanding," citing his toughness, mentality and skill set as strengths. Not only is he a load on his feet but he can also run good routes and catch passes. 

Both have a chance to make the Cardinals final roster. 

Jets running back Chris Johnson says he's "pretty much cleared" by Dr. James Andrews to return to football drills following a visit to the doctor's office in Florida. 

"I wouldn't label myself at 100 percent, but very close," he told NFL.com. "In the 90s."

Johnson wasn't sure if the Jets would take precautions with him in training camp but was sure that so long as he was putting up numbers he'd be the Jets' primary running back this season and not in a full-blown time-share with Chris Ivory and others. 

"Once the season starts and once we're playing and I'm doing my thing, I'm pretty sure if I'm making plays they're going to want to keep handing the ball off to me," Johnson said. "If they want me to continue making plays, I'm pretty sure I can't do that if I'm on the sideline."