Former West Virginia cornerback Michael Coats Jr. has turned a strong preseason into a spot on the Cleveland Browns’ 53-man roster, one of the more surprising roster moves around the league as teams cut down to their regular-season group.
Coats did enough in the preseason to grab the Browns’ attention. Over that stretch, he gave up only two catches for 13 yards on six targets, added four tackles and an interception, and posted an 88.0 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus with an 83.7 overall mark. For an undrafted free agent, that kind of performance still doesn’t guarantee anything - but in his case, it was enough.
Cleveland’s cornerback room gave him a real opening. Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell are set as the starters, while Coats will likely start the season as depth and contribute mostly on special teams. He’ll also be competing for playing time with Mekhi Blackmon, D’Angelo Ross and Damarri Mathis.
There’s also something unusual about how far Coats has come. He never played high school football, yet he worked his way into major college football and now onto an NFL roster in his rookie year. His path included stops at East Central Community College and Nevada before he reached WVU, and the Mountaineers staff helped him take the next step and show he could handle the highest level.
At West Virginia last season, Coats played in 12 games and finished with 30 tackles, seven passes defended, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. His size was the biggest hurdle - listed between 5'9" and 5'10", he had to be sharp in coverage to keep earning chances, and plenty of times he was.
Most of his preseason work for Cleveland came at corner, though he could also move into the nickel spot if size becomes a problem.
The Browns open the season on September 13th in Jacksonville against the Jaguars.
In Other News...
Bob Huggins Just Reopened A Tough WVU Conversation
Bob Huggins is putting his Morgantown home on the market, another sign that the former West Virginia coachs ties to the city are being reconsidered in public view. Huggins spent 2007 to 2023 leading the Mountaineers, a run that included a Final Four trip and a Big East championship, and for much of that span he was as closely identified with the program and the community as anyone in the state.
His resignation already left West Virginia sorting through what comes next after one of the most significant coaching eras in school history, and the home sale adds a fresh layer to that conversation. Huggins has remained connected to Morgantown through years of community support efforts, so this is not just a real-estate move for longtime fans who watched him build the program, but another reminder that the relationship between the coach, the university and the city is still very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs First Depth Chart Will Reveal How Settled This Roster Really Is
The first depth chart of the Rich Rodriguez era at West Virginia should say plenty about how quickly this roster has settled into place, and how much competition is still left to sort out. There are a few spots that feel fairly easy to read at this point, with running back, linebacker, cornerback and kicker among the positions likely to draw the most attention when the two-deep is finally released for game week.
Even with some projected starters and key contributors already seeming to separate themselves, the real intrigue is whether the staff uses a clean pecking order or leans on a few OR designations to keep battles alive. For a roster still being evaluated under a new coach, the depth chart will be less about ceremony and more about telling the first real story of who has earned trust, who is still pushing, and where West Virginia still has questions to answer. [Read more 🡒]
Vegas Just Sent A Clear Message About West Virginias Season Opener
Rich Rodriguez is heading into his second year of his second stint at West Virginia with a season opener that already has oddsmakers taking a strong position on what the Mountaineers should look like in 2026. The matchup with Coastal Carolina comes with a sizable spread and a game total that suggests Vegas expects West Virginia to do more than simply survive Week 1, especially after last seasons uneven ride.
West Virginias record a year ago was hard to love, but it was not hard to bet on, at least in the right spots. The Mountaineers were often more competitive than their final mark suggested, and that history makes the opener a little more interesting than a simple early-season tuneup. The real question now is whether this is just an aggressive number for a home favorite, or the first hint that Rodriguezs second act is starting to look a lot more settled. [Read more 🡒]