Bills Central

ESPN analyst says WR Keon Coleman has been integral to Bills’ offensive resurgence

ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky feels as though rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman has played a massive role in the Buffalo Bills' offense regaining its form.

Kyle Silagyi

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The sign of a good executive in any sport is the ability to pivot when data suggests an acquisition or philosophy is not panning out as you initially anticipated; in this regard, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane is a pretty good executive.

He revamped his receiving corps in the 2024 offseason, parting ways with long-time starters Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis in favor of a mishmash of versatile, but unproven pass-catchers that offered little in the way of demonstrated professional production. The offense got off to a promising start sans a bonafide No. 1 option, but it struggled mightily in Weeks 4 and 5, with Buffalo’s receiving corps combining for just 14 total catches in the back-to-back losses. The unit rebounded slightly in a Week 6 win, but not enough to provide confidence moving into the heart of the regular season; Beane, thus, pivoted, acquiring five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns to give his team a reliable primary target.

And though Cooper hasn’t posted gaudy stat lines throughout his first two games in a Buffalo uniform, the offense has benefited from his presence, posting 389 yards and 34 points in a Week 7 win before notching 445 yards and 31 points in a comfortable Week 8 victory. The veteran has been relatively productive (catching five passes for 69 yards and one score in two games), but it’s been the emergence of the team’s pre-existing wideouts that has opened up the offense; third-year receiver Khalil Shakir, for example, looked stellar in the Bills’ Week 8 thrashing of the Seattle Seahawks, catching nine of 10 targets for 107 yards.

Related: This stat showcases Bills WR Khalil Shakir’s dominant start to 2024 season

And no Buffalo wideout has looked consistently better over the past two games than rookie receiver Keon Coleman, as he’s caught nine passes for 195 yards and one touchdown throughout the two-game stretch. He’s starting to consistently showcase the attributes—the physicality, the contested catch prowess, the run-after-catch ability, etc.—that made him attractive to the team in the pre-draft process, to the point that he’s now the team’s most heavily deployed receiver by a considerable margin. 

One national pundit feels as though the rookie’s emergence is what’s allowed Buffalo’s offense to regain its early season form, with ESPN analyst (and former NFL quarterback) Dan Orlovsky praising Coleman during a recent appearance on the network. The pundit feels as though the 21-year-old is starting to feel comfortable at the professional level, something that will allow the team’s offense to further improve as the season progresses.

“A massive part is their rookie receiver, Keon Coleman,” Orlovsky said. “I think, No. 1, his feel in zone is really starting to show up. No. 2, his strength getting off of coverage down the field and realizing, ‘I’m open, get my eyes back to the quarterback.’ I think his understanding of the contested tough catches down in the red zone have continued to show themselves, and when he needs to expect the football from his quarterback. If he continues to take some of these steps like he has over the past two or three weeks, he, along with [Khalil] Shakir and [Dalton] Kincaid, they become a very dangerous pass-catching group.”

Coleman currently ranks first on the team in touchdowns (three), while Shakir leads in receptions (36) and yards (421). Kincaid isn’t far behind in either category, reeling in 28 passes for 300 yards and two scores through eight games. All three are still young players who only figure to improve as their professional careers progress; consider the person throwing them the football and the fact that they’ll have a seven-time 1,000-yard wideout aiding them throughout the rest of the 2024 campaign, and the sky seems to be the limit for Buffalo’s offense.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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