Playing in the shadow of a certain Sammy while playing college ball at Clemson, Martavis Bryant ought to be quite motivated to stay ahead of the newest Sammie in Pittsburgh.
When the Steelers drafted Auburn’s Sammie Coates in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, it came as more than a bit of a surprise to most, especially considering the team’s massive needs elsewhere. But Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin simply could not pass up this addition to an already potent air attack led by veteran QB Ben Roethlisberger and superstar WR Antonio Brown. Bryant’s emergence as a tall, speedy big-play threat after being forgotten until the fourth round in the 2014 Draft was definitely a feather in the cap for the Pittsburgh front office.
His introduction to the league came in Week 7 last season when the team went on its most dominant three-game stretch all year, defeating Houston, Indianapolis and Baltimore, all at home, and in impressive fashion. Bryant accounted for five touchdowns on just 10 catches, instantly displaying his splash ability and a rapport with Roethlisberger. He cooled down a bit, scoring just three more times in the final seven regular season games before a quality showing in the playoff loss to Baltimore.
While Brown dwarfed everyone’s numbers, RB Le’Veon Bell caught a whopping 83 passes out of the backfield, Heath Miller had a typically productive season at the tight end position and Markus Wheaton was the number two receiver before Bryant made his mark. Wheaton had 27 more receptions than Bryant, but for just 95 more yards and six less touchdowns. It seemed likely by year’s end that Bryant would enter 2015 as the clear number two receiver on the depth chart.
Coates, in his junior year at Auburn, was his team’s leading receiver with 34 grabs for 741 yards. That’s almost 22 yards per reception. Sure, it’s against college defenses, albeit mostly SEC-caliber defenses. Coates was an all-or-nothing kind of player, much like Bryant’s m.o. through his first professional season.
Bryant has a couple of inches on Coates, but both are tall and difficult to match up against physically. The former Clemson Tiger stayed patient through the first six weeks last season, and the former Auburn Tiger may have to do the same, but if he soaks up what Todd Haley and wide receivers coach Richard Mann have to teach him, he could easily become a solid addition to an already strong unit. It will not only be motivation for Bryant if Coates is relevant in practice and later on in game situations, but especially so too for Wheaton.
The Steelers have not forgotten about Wheaton, who did have the second most receptions among receivers on the team last year. However, with the emergence of Bryant and the selection of Coates, the seat is undeniably hot for the 2013 third-round pick from Oregon State. Wheaton is not as physically imposing and almost certainly profiles better as a short-game, slot receiver rather than Bryant and Coates.
A lot is to be determined as summer workouts and training camp plays out, and there will be a fun and perhaps heated position battle for playing time amongst just about every wide receiver not named Antonio Brown on this team’s roster. Regardless of who ends up running routes come September, know that Roethlisberger and this receiving corps will already be battle-tested and ready to go big and go deep.
