This Sunday's game between the Atlanta Falcons (6-7) and San Francisco 49ers (7-6) at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara (4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT, CBS) will feature a special treat for fans, as it will match up two of the NFL's most unique and versatile weapons in Cordarrelle Patterson of the Falcons and Deebo Samuel of the 49ers.
Special teams has typically been the first thing associated with Patterson early in his NFL career, which has seen him earn first or second-team All-Pro honors as a return specialist on six different occasions. But Patterson has also done a bit of everything on offense dating back to his college days at the University of Tennessee, even throwing a couple passes along the way. And in recent years, Patterson has been used more as a runner as opposed to earlier in his career, when most of his reps on offense came at receiver.
Patterson's attempts as a runner started to increase during his lone season with the New England Patriots in 2018 (42 carries, 228 yards), then the Chicago Bears ran him some more in 2020 (64 carries, 232 yards). But this season has seen his involvement as a running back, and on offense in general, taken to the next level, as he has career highs in rushes (122), rushing yards (547), receiving yards (519), rushing touchdowns (five), and receiving touchdowns (five).
Samuel's trajectory has been a little different, but he's starting to resemble Patterson more, at least on offense. Samuel had primarily been a receiver throughout his NFL career until recently, as the 49ers have been featuring him significantly as a runner over the past four games. Samuel has 27 rushing attempts for 226 yards and five touchdowns in that stretch, which makes up a big chunk of his NFL career rushing totals (55 carries, 425 yards, nine touchdowns). Add in the fact that Samuel has 57 catches for 1,028 yards and five receiving touchdowns on the season, and it's easy to see why many feel he has been the team's MVP on offense.
Given what both players bring to the table and how each of them play, the comparisons between the two have become common in the days leading up to this weekend's game.
"I think the comparison makes sense," 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said after practice on Thursday. "I think it's very complimentary on both ends. Their guy has had a resurgence in his career, but he's always been—I remember when I was a receiver coach evaluating him coming out of Tennessee. He was one of my favorite guys with the ball in his hands. Ever. The way he moved and can cut at his weight, and Deebo's very similar. They don't move necessarily the same, but you see two guys that are football players who have an innate ability to carry the ball and avoid defenders and see space that are also tough enough to do it."
Falcons head coach Arthur Smith would agree, based on what he's seen from Samuel.
"They've started using him similar in the last couple of weeks like Patterson," Smith said this week, per SI.com. "They're not the same player, but he's in the backfield more. They did run the ball with him early on gadgets. Now he's kind of is taken a little bit more of a CP roll and run a little bit inside the tackles. He's a really good football player and they put the ball in his hands and he usually makes things happen. … He can be a problem and somebody you've got to account for."
Expect to see more carries from Patterson than Samuel this week, but perhaps Samuel's numbers will continue to climb as he gets more experience. After all, he's still kind of winging it at running back, according to 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
"Yeah, 100 percent," Juszczyk said Thursday. "There are many times that he hasn't run the play at all. It's in walkthrough, and right before the play, Bobby T (running backs coach Bobby Turner says) 'Toes at seven-and-a-half, aim at the inside leg of the tackle.' Boom, he goes and does it. That's what's so impressive and what a natural football player Deebo is. He doesn't need to be told too much. He can just go out there and he knows what feels right."
And as for Patterson, one can't rule out anything in the future as far as he's concerned. The Falcons even gave him a look on defense recently, which sounds like something he'd like to explore further down the line.
"I want to catch an interception," Patterson said, per SI.com. "That's my next goal in the NFL, to catch an interception."