If Keon Coleman is going to stick around, not only with the Buffalo Bills but the NFL as a whole, he needs to start being the player the team needs him to be.
The message to Keon Coleman is clear: shape up or ship out.
After being selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the young Buffalo Bills wide receiver has been the topic of a lot of conversation both around town and nationally. Unfortunately, it hasn't been for the best of reasons.
The 22-year-old has had an up-and-down start to his career on the field, showing signs of being the top receiver Buffalo hoped he'd be when they took him out of Florida State. But that has come with discipline issues off the field and, at least on film, a lack of effort in instances on the field.
It even got to a point last season where Coleman found himself benched and scratched for multiple games by former head coach Sean McDermott. Then, at the end-of-season press conference, Bills owner Terry Pegula suggested that Coleman's drafting was more on McDermott than anyone else.
It led to speculation that Coleman could be on the way out in Buffalo. Though that thought has been shut down—for now—, it doesn't mean things are completely fine between player and team.
Speaking to the media ahead of the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Bills President of Football Operations and GM Brandon Beane made it clear what's needed from Coleman this year.
"I think we need to see Keon have the offseason he had a year ago, which was excellent," Beane said. "We couldn't have asked for anything more.
"Let's do that again, and then not some of the things we've talked about, is just, it's the maturity; it's the off-the-field."
Beane said that over the course of his nearly 30 years in the NFL, he's seen maturity issues cost players promising careers. It's something he doesn't want to see happen with Coleman, but says it's up to him to make the change.
"That is kind of the challenge to Keon," he said. "Can you go back and do what you did all off-season and your training camp—if you remember, he had a great game against Baltimore—don't let some of the maturity issues off the field affect the product on the field. If he does that, he'll have every chance."
With the Bills having a new staff of coaches, including wide receivers coach Drew Terrell, there is a chance for Coleman to start fresh. What's happened in the past can be learned from and left there while working towards being the player he was selected to be.
"They [the coaches] want to try to start molding him in the way they see and envision him for our team," Beane said.
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