20 running backs in the NFL are making more money this year than Atlanta Falcons veteran Cordarrelle Patterson. None of them, analytically, have been better.
With every team's season around halfway over — every team has played either eight or nine games of their 17-game campaigns — the list of running backs with the highest grades on Pro Football Focus probably isn't what you envisioned heading into the season, and that starts at the top with Patterson.
Ridley was an under-the-radar signing this offseason, brought on board for just one year and $3 million. It was his smallest contract since his rookie deal with the Vikings in terms of average annual value, and so far, it's been by far his most productive.
At this rate, he'll finish the season with 78 catches for 918 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air to go along with 556 yards and four scores on the ground. That's nearly 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns, for those of you who aren't mathematicians. In the past four seasons combined, Patterson has 1,455 yards from scrimmage and half as many touchdowns. Just some food for thought.
As the stats and the above play both show, his receiving prowess has reached new heights this season, and it came at a huge time for the Falcons, who are missing Calvin Ridley to mental health reasons and saw the Julio Jones era come to an end after 2020. On Pro Football Focus, his receiving rating of 93.6 is best out of not just all running backs — it's best out of everyone, beating out Packers star Davante Adams and his 91.6 receiving grade.
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Among running backs alone, Patterson's 90.2 offensive grade is tops, beating out some other relatively unexpected candidates in the top five:
1. Cordarrelle Patterson: 90.2
2. Tony Pollard: 86.1
3. Damien Harris: 84.6
4. Aaron Jones: 82.5
5. Khalil Herbert: 82.4
When looking at Patterson's PFF running grade (65.7), he's just mediocre. But when combined with that incredible receiving grade and solid numbers in the blocking department, the analytics favor the veteran as the best all-around back of the bunch.
Not bad for a 30-year-old playing for his fifth team in six years, eh?
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