The Minnesota Vikings are set to host the New England Patriots on Sunday, and wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson already has his source of motivation. He is using a slight from the Patriots on draft night and Bill Belichick’s comments about it as his bulletin board material for the game.
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“I’ve seen a little article today where Belichick, I think he said he didn’t want me,” Patterson said, via the Pioneer Press. “So that’s the kind of things that stick in the back of a player’s head. And you get out there, you just want to beat the defense up since people say things like that.”
The Patriots traded the 29th overall pick in 2013 to the Vikings who then selected Patterson, but it could be viewed as almost the entire NFL passing up on him as well, letting him even fall to the 29th spot.
Patterson has also twisted these words a little bit to make them the motivating tool he needs. Belichick said he had no regrets, not that he didn’t want Patterson. Given their wide receiver struggles in 2013, the Patriots very well might have wanted Patterson.
“We made the decision based on what we felt was best for our team,” Belichick said, via the Star Tribune. “That’s what we always do. We felt like at that time it would be the best thing for our team, and that’s what we did.”
The Patriots got four draft picks in return for the pick the Vikings used on Patterson. With those picks they selected linebacker Jamie Collins with Minnesota’s 52nd overall pick, cornerback Logan Ryan with the 83rd, wide receiver Josh Boyce with the 102nd and traded the 229th overall pick for running back LeGarrette Blount.