Riley Patterson is a rookie. He's a kicker. He wasn't drafted. He spent the first 15 days of Vikings training camp nursing an injured left foot while on the Physically Unable to Perform list. And, oh yeah, he works for Mike Zimmer, an old-school coach not known for being patient with kickers.
"Yeah," said Patterson, "being a rookie, it felt like I was in that training room forever trying to get better."
With his plant foot now healed, Patterson has three practices on his NFL resume. Friday, he said he, "feels awesome." Saturday, he began the team's place-kicking competition, making field goals from 36 and 49 yards as Greg Joseph went before him and was good from 35 and 47 yards.