The Steelers have developed in recent years an uncanny ability to find quality receivers in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft.
Since wasting a second-round pick on Limas Sweed in 2008, the Steelers have consistently found great receivers without picking any in the first two rounds, from third-rounder Mike Wallace in 2009 to third-rounder Emmanuel Sanders in 2010 to sixth-rounder Antonio Brown in 2010 to third-rounder Markus Wheaton in 2013 to fourth-rounder Martavis Bryant in 2014. Now, with Wallace and Sanders long gone via free agency and Bryant serving a one-year suspension, 2015 third-rounder Sammie Coates has a chance to shine.
Via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Coates soon could be. He has shown great promise in camp, and there’s a growing belief he’ll thrive when it’s time to play games that count.
“I wanted to come in and be ready to play,” Coates said, via Dulac. “You can’t come in half way. I came in ready with the attitude like, I’m coming in to help the team win. That’s the attitude I have this year.”
Coates has been using his size (6-1, 212 pounds) and speed to make contested catches, and he has shed his reputation from Auburn for dropping the ball.
“The offense I was in [at Auburn], you didn’t get a lot of targets, so if I dropped one it was like the end of the world,” Coates said.
He could be in position to get a lot more targets this year, if he plays like he has been practicing.