Former Steelers WR Holds Record for Odd Stat

If you had to list out the wide receivers the Steelers have had in their history and had to guess who owned a record, there would be obvious choices. Pittsburgh has rostered some great receivers in their past. But the guy who owns one record is probably not who you are thinking of just off the top of your head.

Pro Football Focus revealed some of their most interesting wide receiver records that they have on record. The holder of one of those records is former Steelers WR Sammie Coates. Coates had a few solid seasons with the team, but finger injuries and a lack of consistency got him booted from the roster eventually. Still, in the 2016 season, Coates set the record for the longest average depth of target (aDOT) throughout the season.

Under the guidance of Todd Haley, Coates become the team’s deep threat, posting a 21.6 average depth of target in that season. On 51 targets, that is the number it came out to be, and that is impressive. Torrey Smith of the Ravens is the only player to post an aDOT of more than 20 yards with more than 80 targets, but Coates was a true deep threat in this respect.

“Although a lack of volume can lead to inflated numbers in this category, this is an accolade for the true deep threats of the league. As impressive as Coates’ role was to grab this title, his 51 targets over the year barely qualify him for this record,” PFF wrote. “Coates was targeted 20-plus yards downfield on 53.7% of his targets over the 2016 regular season,  and he caught eight deep passes for 351 yards.”

Coates is now coaching college football out being out of football. But out of Auburn, his deep threat ability was exactly what the Steelers drafted him for at the time. He never fully lived up to the high pedigree billing, but that does not mean he did not have some key moments and roles on those teams of the 2010s for the Steelers.