'Got me paid the last time': Why players return to play for Andre Patterson
Stephen Weatherly and Sheldon Richardson both signed one-year deals to play for their old defensive line coach
By Sam Ekstrom
EAGAN — Andre Patterson isn’t usually a fast walker, but his jaunt is a little slower than usual this training camp. How come? There’s a brace on his knee following a recent procedure.
But the Vikings co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach has found a way to capitalize on his plodding gait. If he puts his arm around a player as they walk to the locker room after practice, it buys him some time to share whatever wisdom he has that day.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, his chosen player was Sheldon Richardson, the nine-year veteran and two-time Viking who found his way back to Minnesota after a two-year stint with the Cleveland Browns. Ask Patterson, or Richardson for that matter, and they’ll tell you that the defensive tackle spent too much time away. His technique got rusty, by Patterson’s standards, when he was with the Browns. Those slow walks after the post-practice huddle? They’re all about correction.
“[He’s] probably ripping me a new one on stuff I shouldn't even have to be questioned on,” Richardson told Purple Insider with a chuckle.
Richardson isn’t the only Viking having to relearn technique. After only one year gone, Stephen Weatherly is needing some reminders, too, following a season in Carolina.
It’s not the first time — and won’t be the last — that we hear of Patterson’s penchant to break pass rushers down before building them back up under his tutelage. He was trying to do the same with Yannick Ngakoue in 2020 before the team traded him, and he’s remade several rookies over the years, including Weatherly when he was drafted in 2016.
Now Weatherly is having deja vu.
“‘You've been away for too long, your technique's getting a little bit out of whack.’” Weatherly recalls Patterson saying. “So I gotta reel it back in, really hunker down and get back into the groove of things, doing it the way Andre Patterson wants it to be done.”
The rigors of Patterson’s program create a fascinating juxtaposition with his popularity. Both returning defensive linemen are almost bashful about not meeting Patterson’s standard, essentially admitting that they should’ve known better than to forget the veteran coach’s teachings.
They’re not the first Vikings defensive linemen to depart and circle back to the organization. Tom Johnson, Ifeadi Odenigbo and Shamar Stephen have returned in recent years after a short time away.
Weatherly has a clear answer when asked about the appeal of returning to his original club.
“There's a difference, and I like it,” he said. “There's a standard that's required to play. You know exactly what it is each and every day when you walk into the building, and it's up to you to come out here and show it to the coaches. So that's something I love, it's really simple.”
Mike Zimmer has often referenced the grass not always being greener when players depart and then return. It’s happened not only with a handful of defensive linemen but several players in the secondary like Mackensie Alexander, Andrew Sendejo and George Iloka.
Particularly on defense, the Vikings have had uncommon continuity since Zimmer’s arrival in 2014, whether that be coaching, scheme or personnel. That includes Patterson, who’s been with Zimmer all eight of his seasons.
Another one of those constants has been Harrison Smith, who laid out why he thinks players are prone to return.
“If you go somewhere else and it’s maybe not quite the same,” Smith said, “it’s probably natural to want to come back and not only play in a good scheme under good coaches but the guys around you as well that make things, not easier, but when the communication is on-point and guys are taking care of their jobs, your job becomes less stressful.”
The Vikings didn’t just hand out contracts to their two pass rushers for charity. Weatherly shapes up as a potential starter opposite of Danielle Hunter, or at worst the first edge rusher off the bench behind D.J. Wonnum. Richardson will be the top interior pass rusher behind Michael Pierce and Dalvin Tomlinson.
Not being a starter will be a reduction in status for Richardson, but Patterson believes he’ll still play substantial snaps. For a second time, Richardson can use the Vikings to bolster his stock.
The 30-year-old Richardson enjoyed arguably one of his finest seasons under Patterson in 2018. He recorded 47 pressures, the most he’s had since 2015 with the New York Jets. That season earned him a three-year, $39 million contract with the Browns that was cut one-year short when Richardson was released as a salary cap casualty.
Though Richardson only played under Patterson for that single season, he names Patterson along with former Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar as the most influential he’s had in his career.
“Production and results,” said Richardson, when asked why he appreciates Patterson. “Told me to trust the process, and I did. Got me paid the last time. Came back to help the team out, further my progress. Thought I did good last year, but not good enough I guess.”
It’s not the first time Richardson has taken a veiled shot at the Browns for letting him walk, but it makes sense that he’d be perturbed. Including the playoffs, Richardson played a career-high in snaps in 2020 with run defense and pass rush grades on par with his recent performance, per Pro Football Focus.
As a result, the Vikings think they have a bargain getting Richardson for a reported $3.6 million this season. Patterson believes it will be easy to get Richardson back up to speed since he’s already seen proof of what he can do as a versatile 3-technique.
“Because Sheldon was here before, it’s just reminding him how I do things here,” Patterson said. “And then he’s able to make the change like that because he’s done it before. The good thing is when I show drill tape … it goes through the years for the time that I’ve been here. So you see all kinds of different guys out here, and at 3-technique, Sheldon’s on there a lot. So when we’re watching the tape, I’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, that’s you, right? So you know how to do it. You can’t fool me.’”
And Patterson holds him to that.
“Whatever I mess up on, it seems like we're doing drills for him to get me back acquainted to the techniques,” Richardson said.
Being a veteran doesn’t buy you any leeway in Patterson’s defensive line room. His high standard has been demonstrated for years on players like Everson Griffen, Brian Robison and Danielle Hunter. Now in his sixth NFL season, Weatherly is learning that he’s not immune to being coached up.
“Everyone in the room is always fighting, everyone gets critiqued, everyone has something to work on every day that we come out here,” Weatherly said. “The fact that he holds everyone to that standard really makes you want to play for the guys to your right and to your left when you step out there.”
There seems to be a loyalty that goes both ways with Patterson. His investment in players like Weatherly, Odenigbo or Shamar Stephen — seventh-round picks that may get discarded by many organizations — has been admirable, almost to a fault. Patterson has shown enough patience to spend multiple years working with a prospect if he believes in their potential, and it paid off big with Odenigbo. Less so, perhaps, with Stephen. Now he’s trying to squeeze the most out of Weatherly following a down season with the Panthers.
That loyalty applies to older players, too. His relationship with veterans has incentivized players like Linval Joseph, Griffen and Robison to stay with the organization for second or third contracts.
It’s a tightrope act for coaches to be strict teachers and at the same time build strong relationships. Patterson seems to have mastered that art, one slow walk at a time.
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Great read. Well done.
Patterson going to be in line for a HC job or DC job soon?