Keon Coleman is heading into the kind of year that can define a young receiver’s place in the league, and he’s not interested in letting the chatter shape how he approaches it.
The Buffalo Bills wideout has already called this season “make-or-break,” which makes the pressure around him pretty obvious. But Coleman says the criticism doesn’t land with him.
“None of them going to come lace them up and try to stand in front of me,” Coleman said via ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. “People are going to say what they want to say. At the end of the day, my job is to come out here, put my cleats on, strap them up and prove my worth here.”
Coleman’s first two seasons in Buffalo have been uneven. He has been benched at the start of games, scratched for multiple weeks, and saw a slight reduction in his role. Through two years, he has 67 catches for 960 yards and eight touchdowns - solid production, but not the level the Bills drafted him to deliver.
This offseason, Coleman has been working with former Bills receiver Stevie Johnson in an effort to get more out of the physical tools that made him such an intriguing prospect. Johnson has been coaching players since his NFL career ended, and he hasn’t held back on Coleman’s upside.
“He can be the best,” Johnson said recently. “He can be considered one of the best because he has every tool. He’s got the height, he’s got the size, he’s got the speed.”
Whether Coleman turns that promise into a real breakthrough for Buffalo is still an open question. What isn’t in doubt is that he’s putting in the work to try.
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Josh Allen remains the center of everything, coming off another huge season as the Bills try to turn all that change into something bigger. The new staff and the new pieces give Buffalo a chance to sell a fresh start, but the pressure is obvious too, because this is still a team measured by playoff results and the missing championship run. For Allen, the margin for another promising year without the ultimate payoff keeps getting smaller. [Read more 🡒]