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."