Jalen Coker Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

Production & Fantasy Finishes

Coker caught 32 balls for 478 yards and two TDs in 11 games last year. He was a healthy scratch for the first three games of the season and missed Weeks 12-14 with a quad injury.

Coker finished 73rd among WRs in PPR points per game; 71st in half-PPR.

Usage & Role

Coker’s playing time yo-yoed from Week 4 through 10. His route rate got as high as 93% over that stretch and as low as 10%. He was a full-time player over the final four weeks of the season, with route rates holding steady between 84% and 92%.

Coker averaged 4.2 targets per game on a 13.6% target share across his 11 outings. He ranked 80th among WRs in expected PPR points per game.

Over the final four weeks of the season, Coker spiked to 5.0 targets per game on a 17.1% share, ranking 62nd at the position in expected PPR points per game.

Efficiency Metrics

Coker caught 69.6% of his targets on an 11.3-yard average target depth last year. He averaged 14.9 yards per catch and 10.4 yards per target. The latter mark ranked seventh among 106 WRs with 40+ targets.

Coker didn’t fare quite as well in terms of yards per route, ranking 43rd among those 106 WRs.. But his 1.72 yards per route was good for fourth among 14 qualifying rookie WRs, notably ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Worthy, Rome Odunze, and teammate Xavier Legette.

Offensive Context

Coker played in a bad Panthers offense that ranked:

• 31st in plays
• 23rd in points
• 29th in total yards
• 30th in passing yards
• 30th in yards per pass attempt
• 16th in passing TDs

QB Bryce Young played better over the second half of the season, but Carolina still averaged only 198 passing yards per game over their final 10. That would have ranked 25th over the entire season.

Historical Production & Trends

Coker went undrafted last year after spending four seasons at Holy Cross.

After a catch-less freshman campaign, he improved his receiving yardage in each of the next three years, from 691 to 914 to 1,040. He accounted for a whopping 46.7% of the team’s receiving yards as a senior.

Coker got a Combine invite but disappointed with a 4.57-second 40 time at 6’1 and 208 pounds.

Injury History

Coker had a healthy run at Holy Cross but missed three games last year after suffering a quad injury in practice leading up to Week 12.

2025 Expectations

Projected Role & Competition

The Panthers spent the eighth overall pick of this spring’s draft on WR Tetairoa McMillan. Draft capital and talent make him a strong bet for an every-down role right away.

That’d leave Coker to battle for playing time with WRs Xavier Legette, Adam Thielen, and Hunter Renfrow. Legette played most of his snaps outside the numbers last year, while Thielen and Renfrow are primary slot receivers.

Coker ran 61% of his routes from the slot for the season — but he actually played more on the outside over the final four weeks. He seems capable of winning either an outside WR job or the slot job.

Coker out-played Legette by most metrics last year. Thielen beat Coker in yards per game, yards per route, and Pro Football Focus receiving grade. But they’re on different ends of the career arc, with Thielen turning 35 in August and Coker a 23-year-old, second-year receiver.

Renfrow is a long shot to win a starting job after being out of football last season due to a bout with ulcerative colitis. He topped 1,000 yards back in 2021 but totaled only 585 yards across 2022 and 2023.

Supporting Cast

The biggest question in Carolina this year is which version of Bryce Young we’ll get.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft had a historically inefficient rookie season, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt with a 2.1% TD rate. Last year didn’t start out any better, and Young was benched after Week 2.

But he returned in Week 8 and played much better the rest of the way.

Over his final 10 games, Young averaged:

• 210.4 passing yards
• 1.5 passing TDs
• 0.6 INTs

He still ranked just 26th in completion rate and 27th in yards per attempt over those final 10 games. But he ranked sixth among 35 qualifiers in Pro Football Focus passing grade.

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

HC Dave Canales and OC Brad Idzik return for their second season with the Panthers. Year one was underwhelming, but they had a lot working against them.

Canales is just a year removed from helping revive QB Baker Mayfield’s career in Tampa Bay. He also served as Seahawks QBs coach for Geno Smith’s breakout 2022 season. Canales still looks like a positive for Young’s development — and, therefore, Coker’s fantasy potential.

It’s worth noting that Canales’ 2023 Bucs team produced a pair of top-30 PPR WRs, with Mike Evans finishing WR7 and Chris Godwin WR29.