National Football League

Can new Bills WR Keon Coleman help fill the void of Stefon Diggs?

Published May. 1, 2024 11:43 a.m. ET

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Henry McKenna

AFC East Reporter

Keon Coleman had his Buffalo Bills hat ready while he watched from home as the second round of the NFL Draft began on Friday. Coleman must have had a pretty good sense that he was going to the Bills. Josh Allen chatted with general manager Brandon Beane over FaceTime on Friday morning before Round 2, and so the quarterback was up to speed. Beane would listen to trade offers for the No. 33 overall pick, but he had the Florida State receiver circled. 

Beane, Allen and Coleman pretty much knew. And then the Bills went on the clock and made the pick official. Coleman put on his Bills hat for the TV broadcast. 

His new quarterback was one of the first people to reach out following the selection.

"[Allen] was like, 'You're the guy I wanted. I watched a lot of receivers and I wanted to play with you,'" Coleman said this weekend during an introductory press conference. "I've been saying the same thing [about Allen]."

Coleman added: "He's a great quarterback. He's one of the best in the league right now. I would love to be catching passes from him."

Beane said that "it was no secret" the Bills needed a perimeter receiver in the draft. Buffalo had traded receiver Stefon Diggs and watched Gabe Davis depart in free agency. Those two players accounted for 241 targets last season.

The Bills planned to get a wideout in the first or second round, per Beane. They traded back twice on Day 1 of the draft, eventually landing at the top pick in Round 2. That's where they selected Coleman, whom Allen had been eyeing for quite some time.

"Josh is crazy about the draft process," Beane said on "Sirius XM NFL" after the draft. "He loves it. If I get a call from Josh in the offseason, it's usually him seeing someone in a highlight, running into somebody, throwing with somebody. … Just asking me what I think about this guy. [Allen] called me at the Senior Bowl to ask me about what I think about a few guys there. So he loves it."

Allen admitted ahead of the draft that he isn't exactly a talented or trained scout. He doesn't want to be a GM. But he loves watching the prospects ahead of the draft and thoroughly enjoys running mock drafts, like the ones so many NFL fans use on PFF and other websites.

"I look at all the highlight tapes on YouTube, so everyone's a baller on those highlights," Allen said in May. "But going down and actually watching all their targets and seeing their mannerisms. And obviously, I'm not there in the personnel meetings, but I get a lot of intel from the guys up in the bullpen."

It's not like Allen has a lot of say in which players the Bills draft. Both he and Beane made that pretty clear. But Allen's passion for the draft did lead Beane to give the quarterback a window into how the team prepares. Rather than letting Allen settle for the highlights, Beane put him in a room with coaches to break down the film of several receiver prospects to help the QB see the process.

"We did give him some guys. We said, ‘Sit with the coaches. Y'all watch them together and talk about how you'd use them. I'd like to hear what you see,'" Beane said.

Coleman is a 6-foot-4, 215-pound prospect who started his college career at Michigan State for two seasons and finished at FSU in 2023. With the Seminoles, he had 50 targets for 658 yards and 11 touchdowns. The production wasn't off the charts, but Coleman's tape against LSU — an FSU win in which Coleman had nine catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns — was something special. 

The only other major question with Coleman was his speed: He ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash, ranking in the bottom quarter of receivers at the combine. But maybe the Bills will figure out how to work around that by using his power and leaping ability. 

Both Allen and Beane liked "the size, the basketball ability," the GM said. The play that showed that as well as any was Coleman's leaping, one-handed catch over the middle against Syracuse.

Coleman's size and catch radius should help Allen in the red zone. And the receiver's tools should help Allen when he's improvising. The quarterback has made a habit of escaping the pocket and making explosive plays beyond the called play. Coleman demonstrated the ability to do exactly that in 2023.

"I think it's a key part. I played with numerous quarterbacks that keep plays alive," Coleman said. "You ain't always open every time it's a dropback. Sometimes the D-end will get back there. To be able to have that ability to stay quarterback-friendly, stay on the same side of the field, get across the field, be in his vision and be a big target and use my size to shed off my defender and give him a reliable throw and make sure you make the catches … I take pride in that. Scramble drill is an actual play."

Coleman will join free-agent receiver acquisitions Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins. Khalil Shakir, the team's slot receiver, is the most successful returner at the position. The beauty of Coleman's playing style is that he's unlike his peers in the receiver room. In terms of play style, Hollins has the most overlap and will serve as insurance in case Coleman struggles to acclimate instantly. But Hollins hasn't been a full-time starter during his career — he's more of a special teams player. 

Coleman has a clear path to the field, which hasn't always been the case for the top selection in a Bills draft class. Dalton Kincaid and Gregory Rousseau, former first-round picks, didn't start in Week 1 during their rookie seasons. That said, Coleman's path to the field doesn't necessarily mean he'll make an impact. Former first-rounder Kaiir Elam looked like a clearcut starting corner on paper, but he still hasn't cracked into the rotation as a starter. 

Coleman has to play well. It's that simple. And if the pressure of replacing Diggs wasn't enough for the rookie, he'll also have to deal with comparisons to Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy and Panthers receiver Xavier Legette — the guys who were selected with the picks the Bills traded back from.

But if you saw the viral clips of Coleman's press conference and introductory tour around Highmark Stadium, you'll see a guy who's at ease in Buffalo. And he already has the resounding support of his quarterback.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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Henry McKenna