There are Underdog Stories, Then There's Browns' CB Michael Coats Jr.

Unlike so many of his NFL peers, rookie cornerback Michael Coats Jr.'s story doesn't start with some well-decorated youth football career. There were no stars to his name coming out of high school. No D1 offers coming to his house in the mail.

That's because he didn't even play high school football. And so, where Coats Jr.'s journey begins is at the Big Play Arcade in Biloxi, Miss., where he worked after finishing high school. 

"Really, the main goal was just like working," said Coats of the experience. "Like when I got that job and, you know, I was, um, working at arcade, so like my shift was like 5 p.m. to like 1 in the morning. So weekends was gone, so I'm like, I don't think I could do this for the rest of my life."

An online flyer for football tryouts would change the trajectory of his life forever. 

"I started playing 7-on-7 with my friends and everything, and I noticed, like I played in Pop Warner, pee wee football, but I was running back. I stopped playing when I was like eight or nine," he explained. "I noticed I still had like speed, quickness, [ability to] catch the ball.

"So I'm like, you know, it wouldn't be bad to try because it was like a $20 flyer. Every day I see that flyer, like in August or something, and the tryout was in March that coming year. So I had my mind made up." 

For the next seven months, Coats Jr. played catch-up to level the playing field with upwards of 100 people who would wind up attending this tryout for East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss. 

When his shifts ended at the arcade around 1 a.m., he would go to the gym to get a workout in. He'd watch YouTube videos to learn proper cornerback techniques. By the time March arrived, he was ready, but he still wasn't ready to tell anyone what he was doing.

"I lied to my mama," he joked. "I said I was going to a Mississippi Gulf Coast basketball tournament. That was like, 30 minutes from me, so like the whole time I'm in Decatur, Mississippi, that's like 2 hours away. So like, I still didn't wanna tell nobody what I was doing ... so I kept everything to myself." 

It stayed a secret for about a week after the tryout. Coats had turned his phone off while he and his family mourned the death of his grandmother. Football dreams were on the back burner for the time being. 

But one day after laying his grandmother to rest, he turned his phone back on and realized he had missed a text from East Central's cornerbacks coach at the time, Drew Dunn. They wanted to offer him a spot as a walk-on. 

"Everything happened for a reason. Like, it was God," Coats said. "When they told me though, I made it, I was like, that's crazy. Like, cause there was a lot of people out there, you know? Yeah. Other people, you know, they'll be like, you know, that's just a money grab. Like, you know, they just want, you know, $20 and everything. Don't nobody make it."

Nobody, except Coats. Whatever the odds were, he overcame them. Now it was time to tell his parents. 

"I told them like the moment I got the text, like when they was like, you know, we want you to come and walk on and everything," he explained. "They was right there shocked because there wasn't no hint that I was doing it, you know? :My mom, she probably thought I was just working out just to work out because I was like out of high school, I was like 140, like 130, you know, little. Nobody took me serious of playing football because I ain't had the body type." 

Coats' walk-on spot soon turned into a scholarship after several people opted out during his Covid year at East Central. There was no rest for the weary during Coats first season with the Warriors, as he quickly found himself on the field despite his lack of football experience. 

In his first year with the program, he played in five games, making 12 tackles, including five sacks, while breaking up six passes. In year two, that jumped to nine games, collecting 13 tackles, four PBUs and the first two interceptions of his college career. 

After two seasons in JUCO, Coats felt he was ready for more and took his talents to Louisiana Tech in the spring of 2022. It turned out to be a short-lived stint with the Bulldogs, though, as a coaching change left him feeling like it was no longer the right fit. He ultimately wound up back at East Central for the 2022 campaign. 

"With a new coaching staff, so they really didn't know my background story," Coats said of the situation. "when new coaches come, you know, they bring in their players. So I went to La Tech for like 2, 3 months, then I was like, you know, it wasn't gonna work because, you could tell, like, since the energy, like, you could tell, they wasn't high on me. So, I went back to JUCO." 

Being bet against is kind of par for the course throughout Coats' story. He parlayed that experience into his most productive season at East Central yet, posting career highs in tackles (22) and PBUs (9), while adding two more interceptions to his ledger, as well. 

More opportunities arrived the next offseason, but one in particular stood out. 

"Actually, I had a lot of teams. My first offer was some MAC schools like Kent State, Ball State. Went on Kent State visit and everything," said Coats. "Then Nevada came and they was on me heavy. Nevada, they seen me building."

While Coats had spent most of his time as a nickel corner at East Central, Nevada had plans to expand his role. Two fruitful years with the Wolf Pack would follow, with Coats playing in 23 games. His 2024 season came with career highs in PBUs (13) and interceptions (4). 

The performance had Coats thinking his time had finally come to go pro. But then he found out JUCO players had an extra year of eligibility, and he changed his mind, hoping to improve his draft stock from the projected late rounds. 

"I had a great year in Nevada, so I was coming out to the draft then, you know, I heard like late rounds and everything and I was still planning on coming out. So then that's when I found out, like, we had an extra year left from the JUCO kids." 

And so, his college journey continued at West Virginia in 2025. Coats chose the Mountaineers over several SEC schools and even the eventual national champion Indiana Hoosiers. The decision ultimately came down to who could offer him a scholarship despite some of his struggles in school. 

Coats went on to post a less productive season last fall, amassing 22 tackles, but only seven PBUs and failing to snare an interception. With the NFL back in focus, Coats wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of his draft stock this time around. Admittedly, though, there was something comfortable about that to him. 

"I didn't really have [any sense of my value] based on the feedback I was hearing from my agents and everything," said Coats. "So I was just really [looking] for the opportunity, like everything happened for a reason.

"With my mindset, I really didn't even care about being drafted because, like my whole life I've been an underdog story ... So I'm like, this is just part of my story. Like this is what it's going to be. 'Cause I gotta come in and show you once again." 

As fate would have it, after going undrafted back in April, Coats landed with the Cleveland Browns this spring. Cleveland had similar vibes as his move to Nevada, with Defensive Backs Coach and Pass Game Specialist Brandon Lynch valuing his versatility to play inside and out. 

More than anything, he just wanted an opportunity. Considering where he came from, he was more than equipped to make the most of it.

"It prepared me because I live by saying, 'God gives his hardest challenge to his [strongest] soldiers,'" Coasts asserted. "I'm a humble person. I'm not even supposed to be right here right now. So, I keep stepping and stepping and stepping. So [this is] just like part of the story. Like, I guess part of the journey and everything." 

Anyone who has made it this far into Coats story won't be surprised to know he made the Browns' initial 53-man roster. He was the only undrafted rookie to survive cutdown day for Cleveland. It's just the latest example of the 25-year-old defying the odds.

There was evidence pretty early on in camp, especially in a cornerback room that lacks depth, that Coats had a knack for finding the football and making plays. That translated to the preseason, where he baited Bears QB Tyson Bagent into his first interception in Cleveland's preseason opener. 

After playing solid again in Week 2 of the preseason, Coats unfortunately turned his ankle in the week of practice leading up to the team's preseason finale last Thursday, and didn't play. The injury was bad enough at the moment that he had to be carted off the field and into the Browns' practice facility, leaving plenty of doubt that this feel-good story wouldn't get the happy ending it deserved.

It's gonna take more than a twisted ankle to stop Coats, though. 

"I take challenges well, you know?" Like starting off football late, you always doubt yourself and you'd be like, you know, like get caught up with the names and be like, man, 'am I really, Can I do it?' So sometimes you'll psych yourself out," he confessed. "But I noticed like every time I do that, it fuels me up. So like when the game come, I'm like a whole different player, cause I play psych games in my head."

Those mind games also keep Coats from ever feeling satisfied. So despite the fact that he accomplished his biggest feat yet by making an NFL team, he doesn't have time to reflect on how remarkably far he's come in just six years. He'll save that for whenever his career ends. 

What he does hope, though, is that his story can inspire others with a dream. 

"It's not even just NFL period," Coats said. "If you got a goal in life, it's never too late to go out and achieve it. And like, don't let other people discourage you. Like, one thing, my story, I didn't tell nobody about my— what I want to do. I just went out and did it.

"If you got a dream and you feel like it's too late, or, you know, you got doubts that you can't do it, you could just use my story as like [an example]. He went out there and did it, and he ain't tell nobody. He didn't let nobody discourage him. He just stayed and stayed and worked, worked for it."