Rookie Player Profile: Sammie Coates
Sammie Coates, WR
Pittsburgh Steelers
Auburn
Draft Status: Round 3, Pick 23, 87th Overall
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Strengths
Coates was once heralded as one the “physical freaks” of college football – that was just prior to his Senior season. Although marred by injury throughout his Senior campaign, Coates continued to show the top shelf athleticm he had become so well kown for. The first thing you will notice about Coates is he is an incredibly explosive athlete. He has excellent accelaration and long speed. The second thing you will notice is Coates is a strong and physically imposing player on the football field. On deep routes and slants over the middle of the field, Coates is very difficult to redirect. In tightly contested situations, however, he is still learning to use his size effectively. On slant routes he does a nice job of sheilding a defender on his back, yet on curl routes he doesn’t always work back upfield to attack the football at it’s highest point. After the catch, Coates has both the agility to avoid tackles, and the power to break them. As a catcher of the football, he is a polarizing evaluation.  On deep routes, Coates is functional tracking the ball over his shoulder. I believe this will improve in time. Coates is an NFL ready deep threat and should see the field early. In time he could develop into very good red zone threat as he develops his overall game.
Coates is neither a refined route runner, nor an exceptional catcher of the football. As a route runner he is not only limited in terms of the variety of routes he can run, but he also shows very little nuance in the execution of his routes – this lack of refinement compounds Coates’ inconsistencies catching the football. Despite possessing strong hands, Coates will at times inexplicably botch a reception. As result. he will primarily be used as a deep threat from day one.
Threats
The most immediate concerns surrounding Coates’ landing spot is that he joins a wide receiving corps that already boasts two incredible talents. The planet theory is as applicable in football as in science – the gravitional force surrounding Antonio Brown in that passing offense is stronger than that of Jupiter in the sense he devours targets. The only respite for the other recievers on the team is the tactical value a taller reciever could bring to the offense – enter Martavis Bryant.  Bryant is an ascending talent who looked good at the end of last year. However, most of Bryant’s success came in high leverage situations like deep routes and targets in the red zone. Where does Coates fit into this picture? He brings a punishing physical dimension to the position that will add to an already potent Pittsburgh offense. Bubble screens on second down, quick slants to move the chains on third down, deep routes on third and long and even the occasional end around are some of the areas where I see Coates carving out a role.
Expectations
Coates will likely be a package player early this season. By season’s end, Coates will likely earn a bigger role as he gets used to the NFL game. He has the potential to stress defenses in a variety ways and as his career progresses, the Steelers may look like they stole him in the draft.
A more refined Cordarrelle Patterson.
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