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UPDATE: 4:46PM
CB Dimitri Patterson will be back to work at the Jets facility later today, according to his agent Drew Rosenhaus.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 24, 2014
The question of why he missed a game without notifying the team remains.
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Today the Jets announced to the press that they do not know where cornerback Dimitri Patterson has been the past few days.
Idzik drops bombshell that Dimitri Patterson has been AWOL since before Friday's game. Story coming soon
— J.P. Pelzman (@JPPelzman) August 24, 2014
Jets have been in contact with Patterson's agent, have been assured he is ok physically and not a legal matter. But still AWOL.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) August 24, 2014
Sometimes you have to read between the lines here a little bit. This seems like a calculated move by the Jets to express their frustration directly to the player. If Patterson has a good excuse for missing time, it's not clear why he did not inform the team.
You probably remember Mike Goodson going missing from the team earlier in the offseason, which led to his release.
Could Patterson be in similar hot water? It's kind of a complicated situation. Frustrated though the Jets might be and unremarkable though Dimitri's game might be, the Jets have a dire need at cornerback right now.
Another complication comes just because Patterson's contract is not structured well. The Jets might be between a rock and a hard place here. If they cut him, Patterson still counts $1 million against the cap. That's a drop in the bucket for an NFL team, but it's an astronomical price to pay for a guy who never actually plays a down for a team. If they keep him on the Opening Day roster, his contract is guaranteed, and they might not know what they are getting.
And nobody start with, "You can't criticize the contract structure because nobody could have known Patterson would go AWOL." Patterson didn't have to go AWOL for the Jets to be stuck in a situation like this. He has the resume of a camp body. He is not a proven quality starter. Patterson has been in the league since 2005 and has started 20 games. He has only made it through a complete sixteen game season once. There was a very real chance the Jets would have ended up in a similar spot due to performance or injury anyway.