Ben Coates ranks in the all-time elite tier for tight ends — a career that places Coates in the top 1% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Coates a career score of 88, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

TEBAL#81ACT

Ben Coates

5× Pro Bowl2× All-ProTop 1% all-time TEsIron Legend⭐ Shooting Star · 1999

Height6'5"

Weight245 lb

BornAug 16, 1969

Age56

CollegeLivingstone College See College Stats

Rookie yr1991

Draft1991 · Rd 5, Pick 124 · NE

All-Time Rank & Honors

career ranks, postseason ranks, awards, title context

Pro Bowls

All-Pro

Archetype Intelligence

Iron LegendExplore archetypes →

An all-time caliber tight end (top 1% all-time) who combined elite production with exceptional availability — almost never missed time. Iron Legends define eras — they show up, every game, for years on end.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 310 · #121 · All-Time

Worth 310 points of value above a freely-available replacement tight end — top 4% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 9 of 10 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +34.4 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

9 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+34.4

Avg surplus

peak +53

9 seasons × ~34.4 surplus ≈ VORP 310

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Advanced (EPA)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1991	—	NE	16	—	—	10	95	1	—	9.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1992	—	NE	16	—	—	20	171	3	—	8.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1993	—	NE	16	—	—	53	659	8	—	12.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1994	—	NE	16	—	—	96	1,174	7	—	12.2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995	—	NE	16	—	—	84	915	6	—	10.9	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1996	—	NE	16	—	—	62	682	9	—	11.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	NE	16	—	—	66	737	8	—	11.2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	NE	14	—	—	67	668	6	—	10.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	NE	15	—	63	32	370	2	50.8%	11.6	5.9	—	20	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-15.4	0	0
2000	—	BAL	12	—	18	9	84	0	50.0%	9.3	4.7	—	3	—	—	—	—	—
2000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-10.6	0	0
Career		—	153	—	81	499	5,555	50	616.0%	11.1	68.6	—	23	—	—	-26.0	0	0

Career EPA-26.0·-26 receiving·-13.0/season

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1991	22	NE	16	—	—	10	95	1	—	9.5	—	—	—	7
1992	23	NE	16	—	—	20	171	3	—	8.6	—	—	—	11.7
1993	24	NE	16	—	—	53	659	8	—	12.4	—	—	—	24.1
1994	25	NE	16	—	—	96	1,174	7	—	12.2	—	—	—	24.6
1995	26	NE	16	—	—	84	915	6	—	10.9	—	—	—	25.7
1996	27	NE	16	—	—	62	682	9	—	11.0	—	—	—	23.8
1997	28	NE	16	—	—	66	737	8	—	11.2	—	—	—	23
1998	29	NE	14	—	—	67	668	6	—	10.0	—	—	—	19.5
1999	30	NE	15	—	63	32	370	2	50.8%	11.6	5.9	—	20	10.6
2000	31	BAL	12	—	18	9	84	0	50.0%	9.3	4.7	—	3	2.5
Career			153		81	499	5,555	50	616.0%	11.1	68.6	—	23	172.5

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA
1999	30	—	—	—	—	—	-15.4
2000	31	—	—	—	—	—	-10.6
Career					—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 88 · All-Time Great

A all-time great career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 88 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 10 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 85.2 × longevity 1 = KV-H 88· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 78

On-field 58.6

Availability 19.4

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rec yds/g)

1991bestavg 77elite 702000

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 32% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

32% of the all-time Receptions leader32

2 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader67

-13 EPA/season over 2 seasons46

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 90%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average tight ends aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Postseason Career

2 playoff games

Receiving

Tgt4Rec4Yds54Ctch%100.0%Y/R13.5Y/Tgt13.51D3

Advanced (EPA)

Rec EPA4.8

College Stats

Livingstone CollegeCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Livingstone College), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1991 Draft Class· this player went #124

#107Robert BaileyDB #109Rob CarpenterWR #111Clarence JonesOT #112Jon VaughnRB #113Bryan CoxLB #118Scott ConoverG #122Merton HanksDB #123Duane YoungTE #125Kerry CashTE #129Gary WellmanWR #133Charles MincyFS #134Anthony MorganWR #141Michael JacksonWR #145Erric PegramRB #146Nolan HarrisonDE #154Fred McAfeeRB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Ben inherited the New England Patriots TE room from Marv Cook (1989–1993), and handed it to John Burke (1994–1996).

Lin Dawson 1981–1989Eric Sievers 1989–1990Marv Cook 1989–1993Ben Coates 1991–1999John Burke 1994–1996Lovett Purnell

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2000team change
Joined BAL (from NE)
2000final season
Last recorded season with BAL
1991draft
Drafted by NE — Round 5, Pick 124

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'5" / 245 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 10-season peers. See all →

peak 96

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1991

B1992

A1993

A+1994

A+1995

A1996

A1997

A1998

B1999

C2000

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 10 seasons.

96%

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1991	95	5.9	316+221	18.6
1992	171	10.7	406+235	23.9
1993	659	41.2	1,062+403	62.5
1994	1,174	73.4	1,769+595	104
1995	915	57.2	1,300+385	76.4
1996	682	42.6	1,018+336	59.9
1997	737	46.1	1,050+313	61.8
1998	668	47.7	1,085+417	63.8
1999	370	24.7	611+241	35.9
2000	84	7	163+79	9.6

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

310 career value over replacement — #121 all-time of 4,642. 31/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #124 (Rd 5) · NE · 1991 · +54.5 vs expected KV-H

88actual

33.5 expected · Δ+54.5

Fan Rating

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Ben Coates

All-Time Rank & Honors

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Receiving

Advanced (EPA)

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1991 Draft Class· this player went #124

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator