Cleveland Browns Draft Corey Coleman: 8 Reasons To Like The Pick

Corey Coleman is only 5-11.  That concerns some Cleveland Browns fans who have seen small wideouts pass through town lately, but the pick was a good one for a team in need of playmakers.

1. There wasn’t a perfect receiver in this draft. The Browns knew it. Every team knew it. That’s why Coleman, the first wideout chosen, had to wait until pick No. 15 be taken off the board. After his selection, the run on wideouts began.

2. A lot of Browns fans and a few of my colleagues here at the Factory of Sadness favored LaQuon Treadwell. I’d have been fine with Treadwell, too, but obviously, other teams were scared by Treadwell’s +4.6 40-time. The concern was so high that Treadwell wasn’t even the second receiver picked. The Vikings made the Ole’ Miss product the fourth wideout taken with the 23rd pick.

3. Treadwell may end up being a great receiver, but remember: analytics. The numbers are a BIG deal with this front office, and Coleman is an analytical darling. He at the top, or near the top of several analytical categories.

4 Coleman was the Biletnikoff winner, meaning he was regarded as the best receiver in college football. “His 3.97 yards per route run in 2015 was second-best in the class, and equal to Amari Cooper’s numbers in ’14. Good pick for the Browns,” wrote Pro Football Focus editor Jeff Dooley on Twitter.

5. The issue of taking Coleman over Treadwell, or even Josh Doctson, for that matter, is a case in analytics guiding the Browns. The eye test would suggest Treadwell or Doctson would’ve been a better choice because of their size. But the Browns are going all in with analytics and this pick says they’re sticking to their plan.

6. I won’t get into how the sausage is made with these analytical measurement tools , but Coleman rated very highly in categories as Phenom Index, Playmaker Score and Success Score. Read this article from Dawgs by Nature to get a better understanding of why Coleman is projected to be so great.

Football Outsiders wrote the following, via Dawgs By Nature.

"“The bottom line is that you could fairly argue that Coleman is the second coming of Jerry Rice, another Stephen Hill, or anything in between. There is simply no way to quantify the amount, if any, that Baylor’s offense contributed to Coleman’s ridiculous numbers. Although Coleman’s Playmaker Projection is higher than Amari Cooper‘s projection last year, Coleman is certainly a much riskier prospect. That said, mid-first-round picks bust all the time, and a team in need of a wide receiver could do a lot worse than to select a player whose numbers suggest potential greatness.”"

7. Another stat to like about Coleman? Yards after catch. Hue Jackson said he wanted a fast receiver. Well, he’s got one, and it will be fun to watch Coleman make teams scramble to cover those bubble screens Jackson called so effectively in Cincinnati.