Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Sammie Coates may be new in town, but he already knows exactly what a quarterback wants to hear. And rather than wait to hear from his new quarterback, one of the first things the Auburn standout did after the Steelers drafted him in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft was to reach out to Ben Roethlisberger personally.
As Teresa Varley recaps in a piece written for the team’s website, Coates took the opportunity to send a text to the man he is hoping will be throwing a lot of footballs in his direction, telling the Pro Bowl quarterback that he is anxious to get to work with him on the field.
According to the rookie, it wasn’t long before he got a response, saying that “he said he was happy to have me as part of the family”, before going into more detail into why he chose to reach out to Roethlisberger so soon.
“It was good for me to reach out to him”, he said. “I want to work here so that is how you do it. You have to take that approach. I am new to the game so I have to show I am ready to be a part of it, ready to work for him”.
He added that his goal is to be the best, and that it started with him being drafted, and “reaching out to him and letting him know I want to be a part of it. That was my whole point, I am going to work hard the whole way”.
He may not have taken a snap yet in the NFL, but he already knows where his bread is buttered, and he knows how good he has it working with Roethlisberger, who threw for 32 touchdowns and nearly 5000 yards through the air a year ago.
He is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game. To be a wide receiver for him is going to be real big. I am going to work my butt off for him to show him I am real excited about it. That is the goal for any wide receiver when you have a great quarterback. You want to come right in and show that you are someone he can count on. That is my goal coming in, to be a guy he can count on.
Music to a quarterback’s ears.
Of course, Roethlisberger already has a guy he can count on in Antonio Brown, as the pair hooked up on an astonishing 129 receptions last year—the second-most ever—with 13 of those receptions finishing up in the end zone.
Unsurprisingly, Coates is also looking forward to working with the All-Pro wide receiver, and who better to turn to if he is looking to show that he is a player that Roethlisberger can depend upon.
In the meantime, the rookie should fit right in with Markus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant, the Steelers’ two other young, emerging talents, who are all looking up to Brown and looking to become that reliable guy for their quarterback.
