Until we actually start seeing some results on the field, it seems as though there are going to be those in the Justin Hunter camp, and those who are in the Sammie Coates camp. And to be fair to Hunter, Coates is likely to have more opportunities in Cleveland now than he will have with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While Hunter has been rightly regarded as an underachiever in his career—after all, it would be hard to come up with an alternative reason for a fifth-year former second-round player being on his fourth different team—he is also frequently given the benefit of the doubt because he has not exactly had worldbeaters at quarterback throwing him the ball.
With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at Hunter’s career numbers, as well as some situational statistics, that isolate his targets based on who was throwing him the ball. All numbers are taken directly from Pro Football Reference’s database.
| Career Numbers | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Y/A | 1D | Rate |
| Zach Mettenberger | 19 | 39 | 48.7 | 261 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 13 | 55.6 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 14 | 35 | 40 | 291 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.3 | 12 | 89.1 |
| Jake Locker | 14 | 31 | 45.2 | 213 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.9 | 12 | 89.9 |
| Marcus Mariota | 16 | 22 | 72.7 | 193 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.8 | 7 | 114.4 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 9 | 20 | 45 | 125 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.3 | 9 | 105.2 |
| Charlie Whitehurst | 5 | 13 | 38.5 | 158 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.2 | 4 | 78.4 |
| Cardale Jones | 1 | 2 | 50 | 64 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 56.3 |
| EJ Manuel | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| 3rd- & 4th-Down Numbers | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Y/A | 1D | Rate |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 8 | 17 | 47.1 | 123 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.2 | 7 | 91.1 |
| Jake Locker | 6 | 10 | 60 | 77 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.7 | 6 | 117.5 |
| Zach Mettenberger | 3 | 10 | 30 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 | 1 | 40 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 4 | 7 | 57.1 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.7 | 4 | 104.8 |
| Marcus Mariota | 4 | 6 | 66.7 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.5 | 2 | 84.7 |
| Charlie Whitehurst | 1 | 3 | 33.3 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.7 | 1 | 13.9 |
| Cardale Jones | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EJ Manuel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Red-Zone Numbers | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Y/A | 1D | Rate |
| Tyrod Taylor | 3 | 5 | 60 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 112.5 |
| Zach Mettenberger | 2 | 4 | 50 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 100 |
| Jake Locker | 2 | 3 | 66.7 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.3 | 2 | 131.9 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 1 | 3 | 33.3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 42.4 |
| Marcus Mariota | 1 | 1 | 100 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 139.6 |
| Charlie Whitehurst | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| EJ Manuel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Deep-Target Numbers | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Y/A | 1D | Rate |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 4 | 14 | 28.6 | 192 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.7 | 4 | 118.8 |
| Jake Locker | 4 | 14 | 28.6 | 112 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 100 |
| Zach Mettenberger | 3 | 14 | 21.4 | 80 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.7 | 3 | 44.9 |
| Charlie Whitehurst | 4 | 9 | 44.4 | 152 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.9 | 4 | 88.7 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 3 | 5 | 60 | 68 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.6 | 3 | 143.8 |
| Marcus Mariota | 2 | 4 | 50 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.3 | 2 | 95.8 |
| Cardale Jones | 1 | 1 | 100 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 1 | 118.8 |
I don’t think it’s particularly surprising that some of his best numbers came in his playing time with Marcus Mariota and Tyrod Taylor. While he had a low catch percentage with Taylor, his situational numbers were good—especially in the red zone. According to Pro Football Focus, he had one drop on 23 targets a year ago.
