Jalen Coker ‘100%’ should’ve been drafted, some say. But landing at Panthers a ‘blessing’

On some Fridays earlier this season, all Brad Idzik could do was watch in wonder.

The Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator thought he knew what he’d see. Friday practices usually dictate the scout-team offense giving way to the first-team defense, letting the secondary make plays on the ball without much resistance — a process to polish the defense’s schemes and assignments before game day.

Enter Jalen Coker, the undrafted rookie out of Holy Cross.

“There were a handful of times where balls were going over their heads, it looked like a throwaway,” Idzik said earlier this week. “But there goes Jalen ...”

The 6-foot-3, 214-pound receiver might come down with it, using his NFL Scouting Combine-best 42.5-inch vertical jump and impressive ball skills. Other times not. But his attacks on the ball regularly were sights to behold.

“You go out there and you play schoolyard ball,” Idzik added, “I don’t know how many people are going to cover Jalen Coker.”

Coker doesn’t make those kinds of catches anymore on Fridays against the first-team defense. That’s because three weeks ago he was promoted to the 53-man roster and has made the most of his opportunities. The past two weeks, he’s caught seven pases on eight targets for 98 yards. His first NFL catch, against the Chicago Bears Week 5, went for 31 yards. In Week 6, he notched a career-high 43 offensive snaps (65%) — on par with Xavier Legette (51, 77%) and Jonathan Mingo (30, 45%).

The promise he’s shown has been welcomed by a Carolina Panthers team that’s 1-5 but whose offense, now under the direction of veteran QB Andy Dalton, has shown huge steps of improvement. Coker’s emergence, too, has been important in the absence of veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen, who’s still coming back from a hamstring injury.

It’s all prompted two questions:

How did someone like Coker slip through the NFL Draft?

And could it actually be a positive thing that he did — and that he ultimately landed with the Panthers?

“Everyone wants to get drafted,” Coker told The Charlotte Observer earlier this week, when prompted with the second question. “But, you know, you make the most of your opportunities. So I do think it was a blessing. I think I was meant to be here. I think everything kind of led up to this moment, and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Across the NFL, people knew Jalen Coker would be good

It’s not just Coker, Idzik and head coach Dave Canales who think Coker fits in uniquely well on this Panthers roster. Talent evaluators across the NFL consider Coker’s situation close to ideal.

Take Eric Galko, for instance.

Galko is the director of player personnel for the East-West Shrine Bowl, a college football all-star game that gives a platform for players with NFL dreams to shine. He was intent on getting Coker to the game. And not just because of his Holy Cross credentials — he led the NCAA in touchdown receptions as a senior and left Holy Cross as the program’s all-time leader in receiving TDs and receiving yards — but because of the promise of his potential: of his ability to leverage defensive backs, to go up and pluck fade balls, to get open without having to be schemed open.

For, in the simple words of Idzik, “typically doing the right football thing.”

When asked if he thought he deserved to be a draft pick, Galko didn’t need a second thought.

“One-hundred percent,” Galko said. “I thought athletically, production-wise in college, what he showed at the Shrine Bowl — no doubt I thought he was a draft pick. The bigger surprise would’ve been if he wasn’t a highly sought after free agent. And of course, he was highly sought after, and the Panthers had to give him a decent guarantee to come there.”

That guarantee at the time meant a favorable contract: a $25,000 signing bonus and a $225,000 salary guaranteed, per ESPN.

“And the benefit of being undrafted is you get to pick your spot,” Galko continued. “And he picked a spot in Carolina that both liked him a lot, as well as gave him a path to make the roster. And here we are.”

That path to Carolina’s roster was evident from the beginning — even if it wasn’t handed to him. Entering training camp, the Panthers were looking to add weapons to surround then-starting quarterback Bryce Young. They traded for Diontae Johnson, drafted Legette and had two returning contributors — second-year guy Mingo and veteran Thielen — in the stable. They also had Terrace Marshall, who had a great minicamp, and went out and got David Moore.

He had a lot to shine through, in other words.

Still, opportunity lurked under a first-year head coach — particularly one like Canales, who has taken chances on undrafted free agents before. During the Seahawks’ run en route to their Super Bowl XLIX appearance in Feb. 2015, Canales was on a staff that played five undrafted free agents.

Landing with the Panthers, according to Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema, was ideal from the outside looking in.

“Obviously there are pros and cons with (going undrafted), because if you’re a player, you’d rather have the guaranteed contracts and be able to say you got drafted,” Sikkema said. “Carolina was an opportunity where they had some snaps up for grabs. They had an open-minded head coach. This wasn’t a head coach who’d been there for multiple years, who had set up not only the front-men of his roster but also the back-end, depth pieces. No, all of that was open. And fluid.

“So not only is it that there weren’t many star wide receivers in Carolina, it’s the fact that there was a brand new coaching staff that does not have ties to most of the guys on this roster that left them open-minded to say yes, this undrafted free agent who’s really standing out in training camp, we’re not only gonna have him on our roster, but we’re gonna give him an opportunity now, as we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks.”

Jalen Coker’s route tree: ‘Physically, he can do them all’

By training camp’s end, Coker stuck around on the 53-man roster. He then was then released as the Panthers made way for six waiver-wire guys. But after clearing waivers, he returned to the practice squad, making those aforementioned explosive plays. Soon, his opportunity came when Thielen — an undrafted receiver-turned-league mainstay in his own right — was put on the injured reserve list.

He’s quickly become one of the best undrafted free agent rookie stories across the NFL.

And there’s further he can go, Idzik said.

“We’re always looking for the right guy to put in certain areas within a gameplan,” Idzik said. “And Jalen does have a diverse route tree that he’s able to do. And you just have to continue to develop his understanding of, ‘How are we moving you around formationally? Motion-wise? What’s the split detail that’s going to give you the leverage of the DB, or get you away from his help?’ So those are the details we’re continuing to develop with him to make sure we can continue to add more routes to his tree.

“Because physically, he can do them all.”

And soon, if trends sustain, he will.