49ers free agency: 5 still-available players Niners can target

49ers Free-Agent Target No. 1: Wide Receiver Cordarrelle Patterson

If there was one player San Francisco could target who’d fill a multitude of needs on the roster, it would be wide receiver and return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson.

Patterson doesn’t look to be returning to the Chicago Bears after back-to-back first-team All-Pro nods as an elite-level returner. And while there’s always going to be a market for quality return specialists, the lack of movement on this front suggests Patterson would come cheaper than he would in other seasons.

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The 30-year-old Patterson led the NFL last season in kickoff-return yards with 1,017, and he’s regularly been around league leaders in this department for the bulk of his career, averaging 29.1 yards per takeout last season.

Considering the 49ers haven’t quite solved their return-specialist needs at any point under head coach Kyle Shanahan and had a starting offensive field position on their own 27.4-yard line last year, good for 25th in the NFL, it makes sense to target someone who can spark special teams and put the offense into a better position.

Plus, looking back at how the New England Patriots used Patterson on offense in 2018, one could figure Shanahan would get creative with the receiver, too.

How? Well, Patterson would often line up as a running back in situations where the Patriots were facing nickel and dime defensive packages with limited defenders in the box. If there was an epitome of the “positionless” offense Shanahan wants to implement, Patterson checks off a lot of marks.