Report: Kyle Shanahan pursued Cordarrelle Patterson before he chose the Falcons

The Falcons won’t have many nationally renowned players the way the roster is currently constructed. A.J. Terrell, Grady Jarrett, Chris Lindstrom, and Younghoe Koo are about the only players that will garner any sort of league awards at the end of the season — i.e., Pro Bowl or All-Pro honors. Those are players who were already on the Falcons with the previous regime; however, one free agent acquisition is missing from that group of Falcons’ standouts — Cordarrelle Patterson.

Credit to Terry Fontenot for sweeping the free agent market for value and coming away with one of the most productive players in 2021 for only $3 million. He’s completely outperformed his contract, but the coaching staff has to be acknowledged for their vision and execution of using Patterson in an every-down role. What makes it even better is Patterson chose Atlanta over the Falcons Week 15 opponents, the 49ers.

“We’ve tried three different times when he’s been a free agent,” Kyle Shanahan said of Patterson in an interview with Greg Papa on 49ers Game Plan via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “But we were close. He chose Atlanta. He’s doing a good job with them. His skill set is great. He’s probably the best I’ve studied coming out of college a long time ago.”

Shanahan noted that he’d been pursuing Patterson every time he’s been a free agent, and now the Falcons are reaping the benefits of a creative offensive mind like his with Arthur Smith. Going into Sunday’s matchup against San Francisco, Patterson leads the team in rushing yards (547) and five touchdowns on 122 attempts (4.5-yard average); moreover, he’s hauled in 46 receptions for 519 yards and five touchdowns. It is great to see the rest of the league miss out on a player the Falcons have.