Arthur Blank on Cordarrelle Patterson: I hope he’s a Falcon this time next year
Cordarrelle Patterson‘s ninth NFL season was both his first with the Falcons and the most productive year he’s had as an offensive player.
Patterson ran 153 times for 618 yards and six touchdowns while catching 52 passes for 548 yards and five touchdowns in 16 appearances for Atlanta. The 52 catches tied a career high, but the other numbers were all new personal bests in what amounted to a contract year because Patterson was playing on a one-year deal.
That deal was paid for by Falcons owner Arthur Blank and he said this week that he’d be happy to continue signing Patterson’s checks into the future.
“From our standpoint, we’d love to have [CP] back,” Blank said, via the team’s website. “We saw the same thing that you saw on the field. I think this is a very talented player, a very talented athlete. This is a good example of when a coach understands the scheme – which he does, Coach Smith – and he takes an athlete like this and can use him in a variety of ways I think you see the kind of production that he can have. He’s a terrific young man. He’s great with the fans. He’s great in the locker room. He’s a real competitor. . . . I hope that he’ll be a Falcon this time [next] year.”
General Manager Terry Fontenot and others in the front office will deal with the contract, but it never hurts a player’s bargaining position when the team owner says he’d like to see him remain in the fold.
