Kansas City Chiefs: Film Breakdown Of 5 1st-Round WRs In The 2015 Draft

Sammie Coates, Auburn, 6’2″, 213 lbs

Pros

– Phenomenal athlete with first-class speed

– Capable of reeling in difficult catches in traffic

– Barrels through smaller defenders after the catch

– Effective blocker who uses his length

Cons

– Inconsistent hands

– Needs to improve technique when releasing against press coverage

– Average route-runner who ran a limited tree

– Played to the level of his competition, shining against top-tier programs and vice versa

Overview

Evaluating Coates at the Senior Bowl, Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel tweeted:

To begin this, I initially jotted the same first sentence verbatim.

Coates is 6’2″, 201 pounds of unmitigated athleticism. To give that perspective, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports notes:

"Asked about Coates’ 40-time, Russell said they use hand times (which are often faster than electronic times) and they clocked him eight times, dropped out the highest and lowest and said he was at 4.25. Coates’ vertical jump: 44 inches. He benches 405 pounds. Maybe even more impressively, Russell said, the wideout did three strict chin-up reps despite have three 45-pound plates strapped to a weight belt around his waist."

More or less, Coates is the pass-catching version of Knile Davis; a human steamroller with Mach-like speed whose causes for concern stem from injuries and inconsistent hands.

He’s just as liable to turn a slant into a 70-yard score as he is to deflect the ball into the chest of a defender.

Coates’ ceiling is as far as the eye can see, but the West Coast offense revolves around timing and route running, and the latter is far from one of the wideout’s strong suits.

After the combine, a GM will likely take a flier on Coates based purely on his eye-opening athleticism, but chances are it won’t be Dorsey.