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 89, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

On the boards· Appears on 4 boards

TEBAL#81ACT

Ben Coates

5× Pro Bowl2× All-ProTop 1% all-time TEsIron Legend🌅 Early Bloomer · 1994

Height6'5"

Weight245 lb

Born

Career Value · VORP

317 career value over replacement — #111 all-time of 4,695. 31.7/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #124 (Rd 5) · NWE · 1991 · +58.4 vs expected KV-H

89actual

30.6 expected · Δ+58.4

Fan Rating

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Compare Ben Coates vs Player Report data error

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

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at 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: 89%.

Encyclopedia Coverage4/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Not available for this player

Defensive StatsNot available for this player

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro DayNot available for this player

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Career Milestones7

Major career thresholds crossed, derived from regular-season totals (1999+).

19941K career receiving yards
1994100 career receptions
19953K career receiving yards
1995250 career receptions
199525 career receiving TDs
19985K career receiving yards

Understanding These Stats

Receiving

Tgt — Targets — how many times the receiver was thrown to, regardless of completion.

Rec — Receptions — catches made.

Yds — Receiving yards.

TD — Receiving touchdowns.

Ctch% — Catch rate — receptions ÷ targets × 100. Measures how reliably a receiver turns opportunities into gains. 70%+ is elite.

Y/R — Yards per reception — receiving yards ÷ receptions. Measures big-play ability; 15+ is elite for WRs.

Y/Tgt — Yards per target — receiving yards ÷ targets. The single most complete receiving efficiency metric: accounts for both drops and incomplete targets. Elite receivers post 8+ yards per target.

AirYd/T — Air yards per target — average depth of route at time of target. High values indicate a deep threat role; low values indicate a slot/check-down role.

1D — First downs gained on receiving plays.

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

Postseason Career

2 playoff games

Receiving

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

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.

Top Teammates

Drew BledsoeQB7y Troy BrownWR7y Sam GashFB7y Chris SladeDE7y

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Ben inherited the New England Patriots TE room from Marv Cook (1989–1993), and handed it to Benjamin Watson (2004–2019).

Don Hasselbeck 1977–1983Derrick Ramsey 1983–1985Marv Cook 1989–1993Ben Coates 1991–1999Benjamin Watson 2004–2019Aaron Hernandez

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 NWE — Round 5, Pick 124
1991team change
Joined NE (from NWE)

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 97

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

C+1991

B1992

A+1993

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 2025 NFL — 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	314+219	18.5
1992	171	10.7	411+240	24.2
1993	659	41.2	1,126+467	66.2
1994	1,174	73.4	1,821+647	107.1
1995	915	57.2	1,368+453	80.5
1996	682	42.6	1,046+364	61.5
1997	737	46.1	1,083+346	63.7
1998	668	47.7	1,093+425	64.3
1999	370	24.7	616+246	36.2
2000	84	7	155+71	9.1

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 8/31/2026

Canton Monitor · HOF

Calibrated Hall-of-Fame probability — fit against actual enshrinement. See all →

15%

Building a Case

What carries the case

Era Quality (KV-H) 45.4%All-Pro 26.5%Pro Bowls 16.6%Longevity 11.6%

Monitor score 90.6 · components sum to the score (All-Pro ×12 · Pro Bowl ×3 · League Lead ×4 · ranks/era/longevity weighted).

Career Fingerprint

Statistical profile across 5 dimensions

Overall

Longevity88

Peak97

Accolades33

Consistency50

Per-Snap50

On the boards· Appears on 4 boards

Ben Coates

All-Time Standing

Where this data comes from

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Receiving

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

1991 Draft Class· this player went #124