How many NFL players coming off their rookie season can see their flaws? How many can admit to them?
We just found one.
The Buffalo Bills selected Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman with the 33rd pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. … with expectations as high as he was colorful.
But despite his lovable public persona. he did not have the year many thought that he would.
But … that sets him up for a breakout season in his sophomore year - as long as he’s serious about his look-in-the-mirror review.
In a recent article by PFF's Bradley Locker, he puts together a team of players that he thinks could step up in a big way in 2025. And one of the players he picks is the Bills' young wideout.
"Assuming Coleman can clean up his catch rate — his 13.5% drop rate was the eighth-highest among receivers with 50-plus targets — then his play should only improve," Locker wrote. "His abilities as a deep threat and with the ball in his hands should render him one of Josh Allen’s top targets."
We’re pretty sure Keon agrees.
“You want to know exactly what I see? When that (expletive is) trash, you got to be better, simple as that," Coleman said. "You gotta be more efficient here. You gotta get out of this break. You got to stack your DB. You got to give Josh more room to throw the ball. You gotta catch that. You gotta make that block. You got to get that extra effort on the touchdown block so if Jimbo (James Cook) breaks it, he's up the sideline.
“Just different things like that. Calling out everything that you're doing wrong to make it right."
That’s all true … but it’s also wildly insightful.
Maybe Keon is being too hard on himself. But last year, the reigning AFC East champions acquired veteran receiver Amari Cooper at the trade deadline and maybe that took some targets away from Coleman and served as a progress blocker.
But now? The 22-year-old receiver could see his number of opportunities go up.
Coleman finished his rookie season with 556 yards and four touchdowns in the 13 games he appeared in. Thats not the “failure” some see it as.
But …
As the Bills will be looking to redeem themselves in 2025 after a loss in the playoffs to the Kansas City Chiefs, Coleman can be motivated by the same goal …
An effort to take out the trash.