I will be curious to see, post draft, where Jalen Coker fits into Carolina’s offense. He was sneaky good as a rookie.
Coker wasn’t even drafted coming out of Holy Cross. But he made the most of his limited opportunities, outplaying first-rounder Xavier Legette. He caught 70 percent of the passes thrown his way, and he was getting downfield, averaging 14.9 yards per catch.
He finished the season with 32 catches for 478 yards and 2 TDs in basically 10 games of worth of action. When he came back late in the year, he caught all 9 passes thrown his way in their last two games.
Coker isn’t a burner; he ran 4.57 at the combine (again, he wasn’t drafted). But he’s 6-foot-3 and 213 pounds, and with a 42-inch vertical. Looks like he might be a keeper.
Playing around with the numbers, note that Coker last year averaged 10.4 yards per pass play. That’s including incompletions. In the last 20 years, only 14 other rookie receivers with at least 40 targets have had better averages.
This stat would be more compelling if we had much confidence of it being predictive. That is, there are two other undrafted wide receivers on this list – Robert Foster and Hank Baskett. How did their careers turn out?
But nice start for Coker, and let’s see where it goes.
ROOKIE RECEIVERS AVERAGING 10 YARDS PER TARGET | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Rd | G | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | YPT |
2019 | Mecole Hardman, K.C. | 2 | 16 | 41 | 26 | 538 | 6 | 13.1 |
2013 | Kenny Stills, N.O. | 5 | 16 | 50 | 32 | 641 | 5 | 12.8 |
2019 | A.J. Brown, Ten. | 2 | 16 | 84 | 52 | 1051 | 8 | 12.5 |
2018 | • Robert Foster, Buff. | FA | 13 | 44 | 27 | 541 | 3 | 12.3 |
2017 | JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 2 | 14 | 79 | 58 | 917 | 7 | 11.6 |
2014 | Martavis Bryant, Pitt. | 4 | 10 | 48 | 26 | 549 | 8 | 11.4 |
2004 | Lee Evans, Buff. | 1 | 16 | 74 | 48 | 843 | 9 | 11.4 |
2021 | Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 1 | 17 | 128 | 81 | 1455 | 13 | 11.4 |
2007 | Anthony Gonzalez, Ind. | 1 | 13 | 51 | 37 | 576 | 3 | 11.3 |
2020 | Justin Jefferson, Min. | 1 | 16 | 125 | 88 | 1400 | 7 | 11.2 |
2006 | • Hank Baskett, Phil. | FA | 16 | 42 | 22 | 464 | 2 | 11.0 |
2009 | Hakeem Nicks, NYG | 1 | 14 | 74 | 47 | 790 | 6 | 10.7 |
2020 | Henry Ruggs, L.V. | 1 | 13 | 43 | 26 | 452 | 2 | 10.5 |
2009 | Mike Wallace, Pitt. | 3 | 16 | 72 | 39 | 756 | 6 | 10.5 |
2024 | Jalen Coker, Car. | FA | 11 | 46 | 32 | 478 | 2 | 10.4 |
2018 | Dante Pettis, S.F. | 2 | 12 | 45 | 27 | 467 | 5 | 10.4 |
2024 | Ladd McConkey, LAC | 2 | 16 | 112 | 82 | 1149 | 7 | 10.3 |
2011 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 1 | 13 | 95 | 54 | 959 | 8 | 10.1 |
2014 | Odell Beckham, NYG | 1 | 12 | 130 | 91 | 1305 | 12 | 10.0 |
2023 | Dontayvion Wicks, G.B. | 5 | 15 | 58 | 39 | 581 | 4 | 10.0 |
2013 | Keenan Allen, S.D. | 3 | 15 | 105 | 71 | 1046 | 8 | 10.0 |
—Ian Allan