NFL Draft: Auburn’s Sammie Coates Has Superstar Potential
If there’s one attribute of an NFL prospect that gets more attention than any other in the pre-draft process, it’s speed. Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates shouldn’t have to worry too much, since he has it in spades, and it’s one of the reasons why the underclassman is being considered as a potential first round draft pick despite inconsistency and a pretty average passing game offensively at Auburn.
This season, Coates has just 30 receptions with four touchdowns, numbers that look like a receiver coming out of Georgia Tech might boast. However, the plays that he has made this season have been huge, to the tune of 717 yards and nearly 24 yards per reception. The big play is Coates’ specialty, and it’s the reason why I fully expect this young playmaker to be a star in the NFL someday, and someday relatively soon.
The league and fans have been spoiled this season by a rookie class of receivers that has taken over on Sundays. There have been players seemingly on every team who are making big plays on a weekly basis that came out of this vaunted 2014 class, something that will be really tough for the 2015 guys to follow up on. With Coates’ inexperience in terms of running an NFL route tree and his speed causing him to be used almost strictly on deep passing plays, it could be a tough transition to the next level.
But one thing you can’t coach is speed and quickness, and Coates can beat defensive backs physically immediately upon his arrival in the NFL.
As he grows in his career, Coates will learn the nuances of route running in the NFL. If he dedicates himself, the 6-foot-2 speedster can prove to be an all-around dominant player at his position. He already displays an ability to go up and make tough grabs in tight coverage downfield. What NFL teams are going to want to see from him going forward is whether he can beat guys physically on short and intermediate routes.
The quickness we’ve seen from Coates to this point has been staggering. He’s obviously far from a finished product, but this is a player that already has defensive backs on their field as his sprints off the line. They anticipate he’s going to do one thing, so when he learns to make sharp cuts and get a rhythm going with his future quarterback.
It’s early to even be predicting things like this, and his skill set would fit really well with any quarterback that likes to throw the football to a talented receiver, but his potential fit in Oakland is really intriguing. I think Coates could be somewhat similar to a Torrey Smith type, but with perhaps more upside. Derek Carr is a gunslinger who could develop a really good chemistry with a speedy receiver like this that could bail him out on deep balls thrown downfield, giving the Raiders a much needed playmaker at the receiver position.
Wherever he goes, he’s going to make some team happy, but I like what I’ve seen in the early stages of scouting.