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Last week, there was some talk that the Vikings would turn to Cordarrelle Patterson on offense more often with Charles Johnson out of the lineup.

As has happened often since his rookie season, that talk didn’t amount to anything on the field. Patterson caught one pass and saw the fourth-most snaps of any receiver. Rookie Stefon Diggs also showed chemistry with Teddy Bridgewater that made it hard to think that Patterson will be getting too many looks once the Vikings are whole at receiver.

Despite Patterson’s minuscule playing time and production on offense, General Manager Rick Spielman insists the team hasn’t given up on him and is coming up with more ways to get Patterson involved.

“He’s made so many strides since a year ago and he continues to make strides,” Spielman said, via ESPN.com. “As these coaches evaluated our personnel, the one thing Zim always preaches is team comes first before any stats. As our guys are learning these players, they have a pretty good feel but they’re still, you know, ‘What are we?’ Because now you have an Adrian Peterson in your backfield. With Cordarrelle, you can’t ask for a kid that’s working as hard as he can. And there are specific packages that he may be involved with. These guys are trying to put personnel together with specific packages.”

It’s not surprising that the guy who traded up to get Patterson in the first round would resist saying that the team has lost hope that the wideout will make an impact for them. He doesn’t really need to because every week that passes without Patterson in a prominent role makes it plain enough to see.