Bills GM Continues Speaking Down on Keon Coleman
The offseason has been weird for the Buffalo Bills, but especially for wide receiver Keon Coleman. He's been derided multiple times. The Bills blew their best shot at a Super Bowl, fired their coach, and promoted the GM and the offensive coordinator.
Yet, the biggest story of the offseason has been their treatment of Coleman. He has struggled in two seasons in the NFL, and the team has weirdly not been shy about his performance while speaking publicly. That continued recently.
Keon Coleman gets ripped by Brandon Beane again
Keon Coleman has been ripped to shreds by members of his own team. New coach Joe Brady and QB Josh Allen came to his defense. However, his GM and team owner have not been very kind to him while making comments.
Now, in what seems to be an attempt to smooth things over, Brandon Beane has inadvertently put his receiver down again. He spoke to the media about the wide receiver and what he wants to see from him in 2026.
"That is kind of the challenge to Keon -- can you go back and do what you did all [last] offseason in your training camp. ... Don't let some of the maturity issues off the field affect the product on the field," Beane said via ESPN. "If he does that, he'll have every chance."
This is a bit backhanded, placing the emphasis on Coleman's off-field behavior. It's not as if he has criminal issues or legal struggles plaguing him off the field. He's really pretty unproblematic as far as NFL players go.
Beane added, "And I know we've got some new coaches. They're excited to meet him and get to work with him and were aware of him in the draft process a couple of years ago. So they kind of want to try to start mold him in the way they see and envision him for our team."
Beane's final comment suggests that he does have a little bit of hope that Coleman can turn it around. "He came to Phase 1, Phase 2, all that stuff, dialed in, ready to go," the GM said. "You could tell he'd been working out and then, a lot of the people here were at training camp. He had an excellent camp. Let's do that again."
Beane also said later in an attempt to clarify the off-field comments, "Every game he's missing, the trust and the camaraderie is kind of dropping for him. Like that's just the truth. And I don't know that that fully ever recovered."
As far as Josh Allen goes, Beane addressed what Allen needs from a receiver. "He wants 'em to be where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be, and he wants 'em dependable," the GM said. "Obviously, he wants them to catch the ball. Josh is usually 'give me what you got, and I'll make the most of it.'"
Coleman has been the face of that, for better or worse. He was drafted at the very beginning of the second round, and he has also been the subject of criticism as to why the Bills haven't been able to surround Allen with good pass-catchers.
It's important to note that Brandon Beane drafted Keon Coleman. He was very interested in him pre-draft. A video surfaced that showcased how happy he was that Coleman might fall to Buffalo at the end of the first round.
Bills owner Terry Pegula later claimed that it was now-fired coach Sean McDermott who wanted Coleman. He also said that Beane was being a team player. If that's true, then Beane is a bad GM who drafted bad players solely because of his coaches. If it's not true, then they disrespected Coleman for no reason.
