Jalen Coker has outplayed Xavier Legette in their first two seasons, looking like a nice pickup as an undrafted free agent. But after yesterday, I’m wonder if he might be a little more than that. He’s a fun player.
Coker went undrafted despite putting up good testing numbers at the 2024 Combine. He ran only 4.57, but he had a 42.5-inch vertical and an 11-foot board jump. Teams were turned off, apparently, by some combination of his lower level of college competition and his command of the position. He caught 59 passes for 1,040 yards and 10 TDs his final season at Holy Cross.
But Coker did well with his limited opportunities as a rookie, outperforming Legette (the final pick of the first round after a standout final season at South Carolina). Coker averaged 10.4 yards per target, the 15th-best number by a rookie receiver with at least 40 targets in over 20 years.
Coker missed the first month and a half of this season, dropping off the radar somewhat (the Panthers have a limited passing offense). But since returning, he’s continued to do nothing but impress. He’s caught 65 passes in his first two seasons, and with no drops. (Legette, according to the numbers at Pro-Football-Reference, has dropped 9 passes, while Tetairoa McMillan dropped 8 as a rookie).
Coker had a really nice leaping touchdown on a contested ball late in the Week 18 loss against Tampa Bay, showing off that 42.5-inch vertical. And he was matching catches with Puka Nacua yesterday, catching 9 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. He, not McMillan, was their go-to guy in that game.
I’m not saying Coker will have a better career than McMillan. McMillan had a real nice rookie season, looking like he might be one of the league’s top dozen wide receivers for the next next year.
But Coker is looking legit. I like the size, and I like the way he’s been playing. In his 12 games this year, they threw him 55 passes, and he caught 42 of them. That’s a catch rate over 76 percent. Including the playoff games yesterday, there are 80 wide receivers this year with at least 50 targets. Only one of those guys (Stefon Diggs) has caught a higher percentage of the balls thrown his way.
| RECEIVERS CATCHING OVER TWO THIRDS OF TARGETS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD | Pct |
| Stefon Diggs, N.E. | 102 | 85 | 1013 | 11.9 | 4 | 83.3 |
| Jalen Coker, Car. | 55 | 42 | 528 | 12.6 | 4 | 76.4 |
| Khalil Shakir, Buff. | 95 | 72 | 719 | 10.0 | 4 | 75.8 |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 184 | 139 | 1826 | 13.1 | 11 | 75.5 |
| Luther Burden, Chi. | 67 | 50 | 694 | 13.9 | 2 | 74.6 |
| Sterling Shepard, T.B. | 53 | 39 | 371 | 9.5 | 1 | 73.6 |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 163 | 119 | 1793 | 15.1 | 10 | 73.0 |
| Zay Flowers, Balt. | 118 | 86 | 1211 | 14.1 | 5 | 72.9 |
| Deebo Samuel, Was. | 99 | 72 | 727 | 10.1 | 5 | 72.7 |
| Marvin Mims, Den. | 51 | 37 | 322 | 8.7 | 1 | 72.5 |
| Michael Pittman, Ind. | 111 | 80 | 784 | 9.8 | 7 | 72.1 |
| Ryan Flournoy, Dall. | 56 | 40 | 475 | 11.9 | 4 | 71.4 |
| Mack Hollins, N.E. | 65 | 46 | 550 | 12.0 | 2 | 70.8 |
| Malik Washington, Mia. | 65 | 46 | 317 | 6.9 | 3 | 70.8 |
| Kendrick Bourne, S.F. | 53 | 37 | 551 | 14.9 | 0 | 69.8 |
| Jakobi Meyers, L.V.-Jac. | 110 | 75 | 835 | 11.1 | 3 | 68.2 |
| DeVonta Smith, Phil. | 113 | 77 | 1008 | 13.1 | 4 | 68.1 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 172 | 117 | 1401 | 12.0 | 11 | 68.0 |
| George Pickens, Dall. | 137 | 93 | 1429 | 15.4 | 9 | 67.9 |
| Rashee Rice, K.C. | 78 | 53 | 571 | 10.8 | 5 | 67.9 |
| Ricky Pearsall, S.F. | 53 | 36 | 528 | 14.7 | 0 | 67.9 |
| Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 185 | 125 | 1412 | 11.3 | 8 | 67.6 |
| Cooper Kupp, Sea. | 70 | 47 | 593 | 12.6 | 2 | 67.1 |
—Ian Allan