12 Post-NFL Draft Situations to Watch at the Wide Receiver Position for Fantasy Football

Will Sammie Coates Get Targets?

The Steelers came into the 2015 Draft with a clear plan to re-stock their defense and for the most part did just that, using six of their eight picks on that side of the ball. So the fact that the Pittsburgh front office used a third-round pick on Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates speaks to how highly they must have had him rated on their board.

While still a very raw player and a bit of a project, the move makes sense when viewed in terms of Coates' potential. Sammie's rare combination of size (6' 1" and 211 pounds) and speed (4.43 40-yard dash time) would be attractive to just about any team in the NFL, and it's hard to fault the Steelers front office for becoming enamored with visions of pairing Coates alongside their Pro Bowl receiver Antonio Brown .

There's just one problem with all of this. The Steelers already have a taller, slightly faster, and more experienced version of Sammie Coates on their roster in second-year wideout Martavis Bryant.

And given how good Martavis was last year, it's unlikely that Coates will be able to unseat Bryant for the second starting wide receiver spot on this team. After sitting out the first six games of the season, Martavis burst onto the scene his rookie year scoring 8 touchdowns on just 48 targets, resulting in a Reception NEP per target of 0.95 which was good for second amongst all wideouts who saw at least 40 targets last year.

Where Sammie may see some playing time would be at the expense of the player Martavis beat out for a starting job last season, Markus Wheaton. However, given Coates' questionable hands (he had a drop rate of 19.1% at Auburn) he'll have to work on the fundamentals as a wideout before he receives a meaningful role on this team.

With all this being said, I would still keep a close watch on the rookie out of Auburn. While I wouldn't stash Coates on my roster to start the season, given his near identical profile to Martavis Bryant, I would not hesitate to pick him up based solely on his potential should he be pushed into significant playing time following an injury to one of the three wideouts ahead of him in Pittsburgh.