“He was my choice. I chose,” Beane said. “Terry’s point was that we might have had a different line of staff than coaches, and I went that route. But at the end of the day, I’m not picking a player that I don’t think we can be successful with. So don’t get me wrong. Keon Coleman is a young player who’s been here for two years, has two years left on his contract and it hasn’t been working with him. They’ve just been mature things that he’s got.
Expected to take on a bigger role in the offense in 2025, Coleman burst out of the gate, catching eight passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the 2025 regular season opener against the Ravens. He never came close to repeating that performance the rest of the way. In 15 games, including the playoffs, the 22-year-old had 40 catches for 450 yards and five scores. In his last 14 contests, Coleman never topped the 50-yard receiving mark or had more than four catches in a game.
Nevertheless, Beane believes in the youngster, noting that some of the “mature stuff” caused the recipient to lose confidence.
“You’ve got to reset and attack this offseason the way you did,” he said of what he told Coleman after the campaign. “Go to training camp like you did and don’t let those developmental issues get in the way of your playing time and your production with this team. And that’s where we are with Keon Coleman. But we still believe in Keon Coleman here and it’s up to us to develop his skills so he can help us win games.”
Pegula said his initial comments were not meant to cast doubt on the player, but rather to emphasize that Beane is a colleague who will take his staff’s input into consideration.
“Let me talk about this matter,” said the owner. “There’s not one player on our team that someone else could have been drafted because of other people’s opinions. We listen to the coaches, the GM has an opinion, some of our scouts. I have an opinion. But I don’t think you can look at one player, even Josh (Allen), where somebody thought we could have drafted so-and-so and so-and-so was trying to partner with Kebor here. names available to us in every draft that could have the choice.”
With a coaching hire looming, whoever the newlyweds replace to take over will no doubt be asked about their opinion of Coleman. That will say a lot about the future of the wideout in Buffalo.