This is the first article in our new series called The Fringe. The Fringe is where forgotten legends, overlooked performances, and unexplainable moments live. It’s the corner of the sports world where the spotlight rarely reaches, but the stories hit hardest. From misused playmakers and untold stories to questionable decisions, forgotten games, and what-ifs that still haunt the diehards, The Fringe explores the edges of greatness, the brilliance behind the bizarre, and the beauty of what doesn’t fit the mold.
Some stories are etched in history. Some belong on The Fringe.
The Kickoff
It is February 3, 2019, and the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams are getting set to battle in Super Bowl 53. It is a rematch of Super Bowl 36, and as much as things have changed in the 17 years since, some things have stayed the same.
The Rams are in a new city, led by a young head coach in Sean McVay. Fitting for their Los Angeles home, they boast rising stars at running back, quarterback, and wide receiver in Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, and Brandin Cooks. On the opposite sideline, New England stands as the antithesis to the youthful and flashy Rams. Brady and Belichick remain in the same roles they held when they reached their first Super Bowl together in 2001.
Having faced questions all year about their age, ability, and motivation, New England enters the game with a cast of aging stars from the latter half of the Brady era, eager to prove that they are still the Patriots. Hovering over this game, regardless of the result, is a looming sense of transition, both for New England and for the NFL as a whole.
But before we can talk about the stars, the Rams’ high octane offense, or the steady Patriots defense, we start with the kickoff. Back deep to receive is the fourth wide receiver listed on the Patriots depth chart, only ahead of fellow special teams guy Matthew Slater and the suspended Josh Gordon, who, notably, had twice as many carries as receptions that season.
Cordarrelle Patterson fields the ball at the one yard line off the foot of Greg Zuerlein and begins to accelerate toward the first wave of Rams defenders. Despite this being his third team in three years, his inconsistent role in New England’s offense, and an uncertain future in the league, Patterson, with the ball in his hands and open turf in front of him, is exactly where he is supposed to be.
The 10 – “He’s Dangerous!”
As soon as Patterson finds space with the ball in his hands, the energy picks up. Mercedes-Benz Stadium comes alive. Even the broadcast team becomes exuberant. Jim Nantz exclaims, “He’s dangerous” as Patterson hits the 10 yard line and the first defender comes into frame.
Nantz is no stranger to awe inspiring kick returns on the biggest stage. He was on the call for Devin Hester’s legendary opening touchdown in the 2006 Super Bowl. Hoping to create a Hester like moment of his own, Patterson has reached the 15 yard line and remains untouched.
A glance at Patterson’s Football Reference page or the box score from the day after the game might suggest he is just a failed wide receiver who happens to return kicks. But Nantz’s words still ring true. Since 2000, among wide receivers who have started at least 36 games, Patterson has the lowest receiving yards per game of anyone.
A paltry 16.4 receiving yards per game for a first round pick, a player the Vikings traded significant draft capital for, would usually be relentlessly mocked online. He would be labeled a bust, and some poor scout would be blamed for leaving Patterson’s profile, with a 40 time highlighted in yellow, on the general manager’s desk one fateful morning.
But none of that happened. Cordarrelle Patterson has been, is, and always will be different. Nantz was right. Cordarrelle Patterson is extremely dangerous.
Now let’s understand why.
The 20 – Good Luck Rams
Since Cordarrelle Patterson entered the NFL, no player has been better at returning kicks. In his rookie year, he returned one for a touchdown and set the NFL record for the longest touchdown in league history.
Look at the screenshot of that return. Four Packers had him dead to rights, and he still managed to escape their pursuit without letting a single cheesehead get a finger on him.
That play is not just Patterson’s Kodak moment. Since he entered the league, he has five more kick return touchdowns than the next closest player. Only three players have even half as many return yards.
Look at fellow special teams aces like Devin Hester, Tavon Austin, Ted Ginn Jr., and Percy Harvin. These are the players Patterson is most often compared to, yet even they are not in his stratosphere as a kick returner.
If you add up all the kick return touchdowns by those four players in Patterson’s first five seasons, they still fall short of his mammoth total of seven.
While Patterson’s proficiency at kick returns is what garners the headlines, his overall offensive game and versatility deserve more respect than they are given.
Since 2000, Patterson joins only two other players, Kevin Faulk and Darren Sproles, to record at least 2500 rushing, receiving, and return yards. He is also the third player to record over 1000 rushing yards while starting games as a wide receiver, joining Tavon Austin and Deebo Samuel.
Patterson’s game is built around a strikingly simple idea. If he is given the ball, he will most likely manufacture yards.
Since 2013, Patterson leads the entire NFL in all purpose yards. The names on that list are essentially a who’s who of possible answers to the question, “Who is the greatest offensive player of the 2010s?”
And then there is Patterson.
A guy who cannot run crisp routes, who does not have good, let alone average, hands, who is not an efficient rusher, and who will never get the targets to truly produce as a receiver, somehow leads the NFL in yards over a span of more than a decade.
As much as Patterson struggles to get the ball in his hands, when he does, great things usually happen.
Checking back in on the Super Bowl, Patterson effortlessly slips past a group of royal blue and gold jerseys and makes his way to the 30 yard line. This run has all the makings of a vintage Patterson highlight. The explosiveness, the elusiveness, how easy it all looks. All of this could culminate in Cordarrelle’s big moment.
The 30 – Could it Be?
Patterson is running on the artificial turf of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which at the time of Super Bowl 53 was the NFL’s newest venue and also the home of the Atlanta Falcons. Mercedes-Benz is only a three hour drive from Neyland Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers, where Patterson played his final season of college football. After putting up an 1800 all purpose yard season, he became a first round pick.
Mercedes-Benz is also just four hours from Patterson’s hometown of Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he attended high school, earned all state honors as a receiver, and lettered three times in track and field.
As much as the stadium grounds Patterson in the geography of the Bible Belt that has defined nearly all of his life, it is the future, still unknown to him as he turns the corner at the 35, where Mercedes-Benz Stadium holds its deepest significance.
Patterson will ultimately call this stadium home for three seasons, between 2021 and 2023. During that time, the Falcons will begin designating him as a running back and will give him more than 100 carries in two of those three years. A receiver converted into a running back seems more fitting for a seventh rounder out of a service academy, fighting to make it out of rookie camp, than for a first round pick out of the SEC. But it only reinforces what has always been true.
Cordarrelle Patterson is different. In his skill set, and in the expectations we have tried to place on him.
The 37 – Just The Kicker to Beat
Time is frozen at the 37 yard line. Patterson has gotten through most of the Rams special teams unit and is maintaining a full head of steam. There is only one player who can stop him, and it is Greg Zuerlein.
The kicker, nicknamed “The Leg”, had tied and won the NFC Championship Game against the Saints with clutch field goals to send the Rams to the Super Bowl. And here he is again, involved in another high stakes moment, this time straight off the opening kickoff.
Zuerlein is not known as a tackler. As of 2025, he has just eight career unassisted tackles. But he does have one thing working in his favor. He has a considerable angle on Patterson.
We have seen this before. Angles do not mean much when Cordarrelle Patterson is the one being tackled.
This season has been eventful for Patterson, just like most of his career. The seeds of him becoming a running back were planted this year. He caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady in the Miami Miracle game. And of course, he did what he has always done best. He returned kicks.
In a Week 7 game against the Bears, who ironically would become his next team and the place where he would win back to back All Pro honors as a kick returner, Patterson found himself in a near identical situation. Bears kicker Cody Parkey, soon to be infamous, had an angle on Patterson. But Patterson hit the jets and literally walked into the end zone for a 95 yard score.
So he has done it before. He has done it this season. All he has to do is get past Zuerlein to become as ubiquitous as Devin Hester in any conversation about special teams and Super Bowl history.
The next few seconds feel like an eternity. Then, the sharp shrill of a whistle cuts through whatever zone anyone watching Patterson had entered. On the replay, we see Patterson had burst past Zuerlein and gotten in front of him, but the kicker managed to drag him out of bounds by grabbing his shoulders and hair at the 39 yard line.
It remains Zuerlein’s only career playoff tackle.
The Legacy
As is so often the case in Patterson’s career, he jogs off the field, and the legend himself, Tom Brady, jogs on, flanked by the receivers who are good enough to never see return duty.
Patterson may never be engraved in Super Bowl history like Hester. He may never be the subject of trivia questions about return men in the big game. He may never dominate the social media flashbacks that decide who gets remembered and who gets overlooked.
But perhaps more importantly, Cordarrelle Patterson was everything people love about football.
He made the impossible feel possible with some of the most fluid and graceful movement in tight spaces the game has ever seen. Through his unique skill set, Patterson became a generator of energy and joy in a way few athletes could dream of being.
That alone may not secure him a spot in Canton, but hopefully it will ensure he’s remembered by football fans for generations to come.
