ALAMEDA — Rapper 21 Savage boomed from a portable speaker inside the Raiders’ locker room at team headquarters. Whoever carried the music was hidden around a corner.
With a smile spread across his face while rattling off the lyrics, Cordarrelle Patterson made his entry. He held the stereo in one arm before resting it at his locker, music still blaring with few players in the area.
The care-free first-year Raider vowed to inject his personality into this locker room upon his arrival, to remain unchanged regardless of a change in scenery. Patterson, Minnesota’s first-round pick in 2013, signed with the Raiders in free agency after four years with the Vikings.