By Mike Warren
Contributing Editor
GREEN BAY — Forty years ago, Green Bay Packers tight end Paul Coffman was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl.
Ten years later, Coffman was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame, along with early 80s teammate Gerry Ellis.
Coffman joined the Packers in 1978, the same year the team drafted wide receiver James Lofton and linebacker John Anderson in the first round, linebacker Mike Hunt in the second round, defensive back Estus Hood in round three and linebacker Mike Douglass in round five.
“I had broken my leg in ‘77 and he was getting ready to be a rookie in ’78. So, he calls me one night and I don’t know who he is,” recalled Packers former quarterback Lynn Dickey told Packerland.
“Of course we both went to Kansas State, but seven years apart. He calls me and says, ‘Mr. Dickey, my name’s Paul Coffman. I’m a tight end at Kansas State and I just signed as a free agent tight end for the Green Bay Packers. Is there any advice you could give me?’ I said, ‘Well, how big are you?’ He said, ‘I’m six-three.’ I said, ‘How much you weigh?’ ‘Oh, about 212.’ I went, ‘212?’ I said, ‘Son, you’re a little light in the shorts here. You’re gonna have to put on some weight.’ He played at about 223 on a good day, but his legs were so strong. Guys would come up to hit him and he’d bring his legs up and they would bounce off of him.
“He was mentally and physically tough and smart. I worked with him individually. I sat with him in meetings and I tried to explain why we’re doing this and this and this. He wanted to learn. I could tell he was all ears.”
Coffman was a student of the game, studying hours of film at a time when not too many players – or teams for that matter – did that sort of thing.
“I grew up in a town of five hundred people (Chase, KS). My mom and dad were both school teachers and my dad was a farmer, and I felt like I had the best combination of hard work and education, and film study, remembering your plays, knowing the tendencies of the defense, helped so much when you’re running routes,” said Coffman. “You know where the hole is. You know what the quarterback’s reading and what the defense is trying to do to stop us. And then plus the hard work of my dad getting up at five in the morning, going out and plowing in the field until seven, coming back, putting on his suit and tie, teaching biology, chemistry and physics. As soon as school was over, he was back out in the field until dark. So, I felt like I could win every sprint after practice and I could hustle downfield when somebody else caught the ball. I didn’t look at what I didn’t have. I looked at what I did have and tried to capitalize on it.”
Lofton would lead the Packers in 1978 with 46 receptions for 818 yards and six receiving touchdowns, while averaging 17.8 yards per catch.
Coffman, meanwhile, did not catch a pass, in a backup role to ninth-year veteran tight end Rich McGeorge, who as a rookie and second-year player in 1970 and 1971 was catching passes from now-Head Coach Bart Starr.
“Bart was an encourager,” recalled Coffman. “He would challenge you as a man. He’d say, ‘You’re better than this. I expect more out of you than that.’ When Bart Starr says something like that to you, you’re like, ‘Yes, sir. I’ll do everything I can to let you know you’ve made the right decision in picking me for your starting tight end.’”
In his second season with the Packers, Coffman beat out McGeorge for the starting job and led the team in receptions with 56, besting Lofton’s 54 and equaling him in touchdowns with four.
His 56 grabs were the most by a tight end in 23 years (Billy Howton, 1956) and stood as the benchmark for that position for 33 years, when – in 2012 – Jermichael Finley hauled in 61 passes from Aaron Rodgers.
Coffman’s best season as a pro was 1983, also one of the best in the team’s storied history. That year, Dickey led the NFL in passing, with 4,458 yards.
Coffman was a big part of that success, grabbing 54 receptions for a career-best 814 yards and 11 touchdowns, while averaging 15.1 yards per catch. His best game as a professional came during that same season as well, when — in front of a national television audience and against defending champion Washington on ABC’s Monday Night Football — Coffman hauled in six catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half.
The most catches by Coffman in a game came in 1980, when he snagged nine passes for 109 and a touchdown, in a 14-14 tie with Tampa Bay.
He eclipsed the 100-yard mark six times during his career, all as a Packer.
After eight seasons, Coffman was waived by the Packers six days before the start of the 1986 season. He returned to his home state a week later, signing a free agent contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for two different head coaches over two seasons (1986-87) and where he reunited with his college roommate, former Kansas State linebacker Gary Spani.
Coffman caught 17 passes for 117 yards in two seasons with the Chiefs.
He ended his pro career in Minnesota, where he played in eight games for the Vikings during the 1988 season without recording a catch.
Coffman appeared in 119 games for the Packers between 1978 and 1985, going from an undrafted rookie to a three-time Pro Bowl selection (1982-84).
“You know, it’s not all about me,” the Kansas State graduate told us. “It was about my teammates. It was about Coach Bart Starr, who believed in me. I’d sit by Lynn Dickey in the meetings. I learned what I was doing. He’d explain to me why I was doing it, what the defense was trying to do to stop me. I watched how hard Larry McCarren worked. I watched how smooth James Lofton ran routes. I was put in a position to succeed. I was definitely in the right place at the right time in Green Bay, Wisconsin.”
During his time as a Packer player, Coffman caught 322 passes for 4,223 yards and 39 touchdowns – leading the team three different times in that category (1979, 1983-84).
“The love the Packer fans have for their team, and if I can come back and give to the community, why not?” Coffman said, when asked why he keeps coming back to the Packers Hall of Fame golf outing each July.
“This is a heck of a time. Get to see some of the old teammates, meet some new people and have a lot of fun, tell the stories — and of course they get better every year — so (I) love coming back to Green Bay.”
