Everyone in Buffalo recognizes that the 2026 season will be pivotal for Keon Coleman’s future. Finally live up to expectations and the receiver can give the bills a dimension to place them higher. Keep fighting, and he will find his way out of Western New York.
The third-year wide receiver is coming off a 38-catch, 404-yard, four-touchdown 2025 season in which he was benched for part of the campaign. As part of Coleman’s preparation for 2026, he connected with former Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson, who understands the pressure of performing in Buffalo. It was in Johnson’s third season that he broke out, producing three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns from 2010-12.
Coleman and Johnson trained this spring at the University of San Diego, and the 23-year-old’s performance surprised Johnson based on everything he had heard and read.
“I thought he was going to be immature. I thought he was going to be, not a student of the game, just a very talented player with God-given talent,” Johnson told ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg. “But just right away … he was locked in, wanting to learn things, open to constructive criticism. He was asking questions.”
The 6-foot-3, 213-pound Coleman said his and Johnson’s (6-foot-2, 210-pound) similarities in build and mentality match.
“Similar players, similar backgrounds when it comes down to it.”[s] to the sports we play, the way we move, the way we see the game,” Coleman said of the 39-year-old former wide receiver. “So, it’s like two humps going into it. A lot of IQ guys who love the game and we could talk football for hours.”