Veteran wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson visited with the Falcons on Wednesday (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). If all goes well, the accomplished kick returner is expected to sign fairly quickly. 
“I’m going to miss my boys in Chicago,” Patterson tweeted, an indication that he’s on the verge of signing with Atlanta.
If signed, Patterson will provide new special teams coordinator Marquice Williams with a dynamic return man capable of breaking games wide open. Patterson’s done the bulk of his work on kickoffs, but he could also factor into punt returns.
Patterson, a former first-round pick of the Vikings, has spent the last two seasons with the Bears. In that span, he’s recorded 32 catches for 215 yards, plus ran 81 carries out of the backfield for 335 yards and a touchdown. On special teams, he turned two kickoffs into touchdowns for Chicago with an overall average of 29.2 yards per return, just a tick behind his previous 30.0 ypr.
Last time around in free agency, Patterson scored a two-year, $10MM deal from the Bears that included $5MM fully guaranteed. This time, the 30-year-old will likely sign for less.
The Bears overpaid him. No way he gets near that money in a new deal. But as Brad Biggs wrote in the Trib, guys would rather take less from another team than the one they’ve been on. They asked Kyle Fuller to take a pay cut and he said no. Then he ended up taking less to sign with the Broncos.
After all the recruiting Patterson was doing to help free agents to come to Chicago, this is what he gets. No wonder premium players stay clear of the Chicago Bears. What a crap organization.
After almost 60 years of being nothing but Chicago Bears, if Patterson is another one of our guys run out of town, I will become a Arizona Cardinal fan.
The only thing than won’t change is I’ll still hate the Packers.