One Who Got Away from Bears?

Cordarrelle Patterson had been a spectacular return man who showed glimpses on offense for the Bears, now under former Bears assistant Dave Ragone he was reborn for the Falcons at age 31.

Bears running back David Montomery might load up on his trash talking for Sunday in Atlanta.

That's where they'll come across former buddy and teammate Cordarrelle Patterson for the first time since he left in 2021 free agency.

"It's super good to see," Montgomery said about his former teammate's success.

The Bears, the Vikings, the Raiders and even the Patriots tried to get the most out of a player with incredible talent and all seemed to catch glimpses of the possibility but nothing else. Then former Bears passing game coordinator Dave Ragone took over as Falcons offensive coordinator last year and had great familiarity with a player who converted in Chicago from receiver to running back.

Finally, at age 31, Patterson really does seem like more than a kick returner with the highest average in history. He's a running back.

"To me it was always this shot that he never got but now he's getting it," Montgomery said. "He's proving himself. He's not not proving nobody wrong but he's proving himself right."

No one with better than 20-200 vision would have ever doubted Patterson's ability to gain with the football. The problem was his running style. He ran  rather straight up like a receiver or especially a kick returner.

Another problem was his blocking. After the Bears moved him to running back during 2020 camp, Patterson was lined up in the backfield during blitzer-on-backs blocking drills. His first assignment was No. 58, Roquan Smith, barreling in like Smith can. It wasn't a pretty site as Smith bullrushed Patterson straight backward and right into a undrafted player posing as the quarterback for those drills.

The pass receiving aspect of it always depended on the offense and there was the underlying implication left by coaches that Patterson needed to do better in the playbook to become a good pass receiver out of the backfield.

However, Ragone and staff worked with Patterson and found he could do everything. Maybe it wasn't perfect but even the blocking was sufficient.

"He's strong, he's fast, he's physical," Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. "He can catch the football."

Williams made up a term to describe the running ability. He called Patterson a back who has "the whole run tree," because Patterson runs inside, outside and, of course, with power at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds.

Former Bears offensive coordinator Dave Toub used to call Patterson "Crazy Horse" on kick returns, and not because he was reminiscent of the Oglala Sioux/native American leader but because he ran like exactly that—a crazed horse.

Williams, who was with the Vikings when Patterson was drafted, referred to him as an "alien," and not the documented or undocumented type.

"He's a planet guy—there aren't many guys on the planet that are that big, that fast that can do all that he does so respectfully," Williams said.

The secret unlocked by Atlanta is simply by working with Patterson. Imagine that, Matt Nagy.

"Well, not being there myself and knowing him personally, I would say some of it is just maturing and growing into your position and growing into that spot and kind of figuring it out," Williams said. "I think people go, well, 'Great athlete.' Just throw him in there and he's going to be automatically successful in the NFL.' "

No one had ever given Patterson the chance to settle in as a back and learn the position until Ragone.

Patterson has 1,020 yards rushing and 11 TDs and 587 receiving and five TDs in two years for the Falcons.

"You can't just say, 'well, he catches the ball,' " Montgomery said. "He catches the ball well. But he runs the ball well too. People used to say he can't pass-protect but he's pass-protecting now too."

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