Bills Central

Former All-Pro WR says Bills have put rookie Keon Coleman in ‘an unfair spot’

A former NFL superstar feels as though the Buffalo Bills are playing rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman out of position.

Kyle Silagyi

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The Buffalo Bills’ offense has sputtered after getting off to an immensely productive start to the 2024 season, totaling only 30 points over the past two games after averaging over 30 points per outing in their first three contests. Buffalo’s offensive woes have been underscored by the production (or lack thereof) of its receiving corps, as the makeshift unit—which was widely questioned entering the campaign—has been underwhelming as of late; the team’s wide receivers caught just four total passes in their Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans, this on 18 targets.

And though rookie pass-catcher Keon Coleman has by no means been the position group’s most significant problem through five games (actually showing immense promise alongside expected first-year mistakes), his stat line isn’t necessarily gaudy; he’s currently second on the Bills in receiving yards with 175 and fourth in receptions with nine, his two receiving touchdowns tied with Khalil Shakir for the team lead. He’s currently first among Buffalo wideouts in snaps with 187, with all but 10 of these snaps, per PFF, coming out wide.

Related: This one play encapsulates Bills CB Christian Benford's stellar start to 2024 season

A former All-Pro wideout feels as though Buffalo could be getting more out of Coleman if it deployed the rookie from a different alignment, even going as far as to imply the team is not positioning him for success by playing him as an X wide receiver. During a recent episode of Underdog Fantasy’s 89, long-time Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith stated that the Bills should start deploying Coleman from the slot, feeling as though it’s his most natural position at the professional level.

“Yes, [defenses] have [figured out the Buffalo offense],” Smith said. “They say, ‘Hey, these guys don’t have any wide receivers on the outside that we fear. Their young rookie receiver, Keon Coleman, he’s a heck of a football player. I believe that they have put him out of position. Give him a mismatch against a smaller DB. When he was playing against Jalen Ramsey against Miami, they won that game, but he was getting clamped down. 

“If you put this young man in the slot against bigger linebackers that are not as fast as him in that short area, you give him a chance to really impact the game. Putting him outside at X wide receiver, stationary stand, no motion, saying ‘Our guy can beat your guy,’ man, he’s not going to do it. Not consistently. It’s an unfair spot you’re putting a rookie into because they don’t have a fix.”

As a five-time Pro Bowler and one of the better wideouts of his era, Smith’s opinion regarding the wide receiver position should be listened to. That said, it’s not as though playing on the outside is a wholly new experience for Coleman; in fact, the overwhelming majority of his collegiate snaps came out wide, and he didn’t start seeing significant snaps in the slot until midway through his final collegiate season (this while still logging a bevy of reps on the outside). He only saw more snaps from the slot than the outside in one game throughout his entire collegiate career.

Keon Coleman
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Coleman did find some success in the slot at Florida State, but it’s not as though the Bills are throwing him to the wolves out wide. It would perhaps be advantageous for Buffalo to give him a few reps from the slot, but the team drafted him with the intention to develop the 21-year-old as its long-term X wide receiver; to make sweeping changes to his development plan after five (not even poor) games would be unwise.

The Bills understood that Coleman was raw coming out of college. They understood that he, and thus, the team, would experience growing pains. Both parties are taking their lumps right now, but with those lumps come flashes of promise, namely Coleman’s impressive 49-yard touchdown in Week 5; he’s not a world-beater right now, but Buffalo never expected he would be as a rookie. Exposing the occasional mismatch by deploying Coleman from the slot wouldn’t be a bad idea, but to abandon a plan after a small-and-not-terrible sample size would be rash.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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