Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Today we hit exactly 12 weeks until the Raiders open the 2017 season. That’s 84 days which means we take a look at the man wearing number 84 for the Raiders right now.
WR Cordarrelle Patterson
This former first round pick never quite lived up to his potential in Minnesota. He was a raw prospect with a rare combination of size and speed. While he has shown good hands as a receiver, it was his failure to improve his route running that kept him from being a bigger part of the Vikings’ offense.
He started 22 of 64 games in which he appeared the past four seasons and has never cracked even 500 yards receiving in any single season. In 2015 in particular, he was relegated almost entirely to return duties. The result was he had as many return touchdowns that seasons (2) as he had total targets (2).
Where he has definitely lived up to the hype was as a return man. Last season, he led the league averaging 31.7 yards per kick return. Those numbers had him named an All Pro as a return man for the second time in his four year career which maintains a 30.4 career return average with 5 career return touchdowns.
He has been working as the Raiders’ third receiver, though he hasn’t shown himself to be a fit for the slot which once again could limit how many snaps he receives on offense. Though he showed some impressive receiving skills in the team’s minicamp last week.
Who wore it best: WR Art Powell (1963-66)
The first great Raider receiver, he was an NFL receiver before the Raiders even existed, having entered the NFL with the Eagles in 1959. He joined the Raiders in 1963 and immediately made All AFL catching 73 passes for 1304 yards and 16 touchdowns. Powell was an AFL All Star all four seasons with the Raiders as Tom Flores's favorite target.
Amazingly, he topped his receiving numbers the following season with 1361 yards and added 11 touchdowns. In fact, he had double digit touchdowns in all four of his seasons n Silver & Black, going over 1000 yards three times. Ultimately, Powell became part of a package deal along with Flores to bring Daryle Lamonica to Oakland in 1967.
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