It is well known that Vikings wide receiver coach George Stewart has a reputation of coaching more great receivers than any NFL assistant, including maybe the best of all-time in Jerry Rice.
Now he has the opportunity to coach another gifted player in first-round draft choice Cordarrelle Patterson. The Vikings traded four picks to New England to get the No. 29 pick for Patterson.
Patterson continued his great performance in training camp in a 27-13 exhibition loss to Houston on Friday by catching four passes for 54 yards, a 13.5 average, and also returning a kick 50 yards.
A couple of the receptions were of the Randy Moss-type, which certainly impressed the coaching staff. But Patterson, while saying that he was thrilled with playing in his first professional game, wasn't ready to do any bragging afterwards.
"It was awesome, amazing, a great atmosphere. I loved it out here," Patterson said. "I felt that I did pretty good and could have done better in some areas. Everybody can get better, especially me. I just feel that I can always get better with what I do."
As for Stewart's size-up of Patterson, he described Friday's performance as a good beginning.
"It was a good start for him. We have a ways to go, but I'd like to thank our scouting department for having a chance to draft this young man, because he's our future," Stewart said. "He's learning from Greg Jennings everyday, but it's just a good start for him, and hopefully we can get better as we go.
"Overall [he must] become a better pro, and he's going to do that as we go."