10 NFL records with a good chance to fall in 2020
By Matt Conner
Most Yards per Kick Return in a Career
This record is getting a bit in the weeds, but it’s interesting to note that that Cordarelle Patterson really is one of the greatest returners of all time and has a chance to eclipse even the great Gale Sayers for a record that would provide more of a spotlight on his excellent work on special teams.
Assuming that Patterson breaks camp with the Chicago Bears once again (he’s due a fairly hefty cap hit of $5.75 million in the final season of a two-year deal), the former first round pick has an outside chance of edging Sayers with an excellent year, one that would need to come close to the productivity of his first couple seasons in the league.
Patterson’s rookie year was one of the finest years ever for a returner in the NFL. That year, Patterson turned heads with the Minnesota Vikings by returning two kicks for a touchdown, including a 109-yard return that was the talk of the league. Overall, he returned 43 kicks for 1,393 yards, good for a whopping 32.4 yards/return average. Unfortunately the following year, that average dropped to a career low of 25.6 yards/return and his career numbers have never fully recovered.
Sayers is the all time leader at 30.6 yards/return, but Patterson has bested that mark in three of his seven years in the NFL to give him an average of 29.9. It’s been four years since he’s topped the 31 yards/return mark, but it’s not completely out of reach. Patterson has the juice to go all the way on each and every return (as illustrated by his 7 career touchdowns on returns) and just needs excellent special teams play around him to set the new record.