Getty Running back Cordarrelle Patterson #84 of the Atlanta Falcons.
If the saying “age is just a number” was a person in the NFL, it would be Atlanta Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson.
At age 31 years old, Patterson appears to be in his prime. Aside from Cleveland Browns’ running back Nick Chubb and New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley, Patterson is outdoing many of the other running backs in the league, who are six-plus years younger than him.
- Nick Chubb: 26 (341 rush yds)
- Saquon Barkley: 25 (317 rush yds)
- Cordarrelle Patterson: 31 (302 rush yds)
- Jonathan Taylor: 23 (286 rush yds)
- Lamar Jackson: 25 (243 rush yds)
- Christian McCaffrey: 26 (243 rush yds)
But Patterson doesn’t actually feel 31.
“Heck no,” Patterson told ESPN’s Michael Rothstein when asked if he feels his age. “I feel 22.”
Patterson Hit a New Career-High Sunday
Patterson has now hit two career-highs just three weeks into the season, with his latest coming on Sunday, September 25 in the Falcons’ 27-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
He logged 141 rushing yards on 17 carries and one touchdown.
He also showed off his hops.
CP said 🐇.
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At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, Patterson isn’t your typical running back build, which ultimately works out in his favor.
So, what’s his secret?
“He skips leg day so he has little scrawny legs,” Keith Smith said, via ESPN––jokingly, obviously.
“But them things be moving and he’ll run through arm tackles and whether you hit him low, high, it don’t really matter because I think it’s just his will power is there and he just has that mindset he’s going to run through anything.”
Falcons Made Patterson’s Dreams Come True
The Falcons signed Patterson, aka “Flash,” to a one-year, $3 million deal last offseason.
The Tennessee product was initially drafted by the Minnesota Vikings as the No. 29 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Since parting ways with the Vikings in 2016, he has played for the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Chicago Bears.
In nine seasons, the only other team Patterson has spent more than one season with are the Bears, and he was hoping that Atlanta could change that.
“I’ve been around five teams, eight offensive coordinators; being here, I feel like I’m at home. Why not just finish my career here?” Patterson said, via the team’s official website at the end of the 2021 season. “I’m comfortable with all the guys in the locker room, the coaches, you know, and everybody so why not finish my career here?
“I still got 10 years left in me. Ten years, plus. I’mma be here ’till they kick me out.”
After almost a decade in the league, the Falcons were truly the first team to figure out how to use Patterson to his best abilities in their offensive system. And by doing so, Patterson recorded a career-high of 607 rushing yards, 547 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns last fall.
His outstanding season gained the attention of the Pro Football Writers of America, as PFWA named Patterson their “Most Improved Player of the Year” 2021 award, alongside cornerback Trevon Diggs of the Dallas Cowboys.
The Falcons also went on to make Patterson’s dreams come true of staying in Atlanta and signed him to a two-year, $10.5 million deal this past offseason.
Now, per Rothstein, Patterson is on pace for 1,706 yards rushing this season, which very few running backs have come close to at his age while still playing: Curtis Martin (1,697), Tiki Barber ( 1,662) and Walter Payton (1,551) to name few.
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