Keon Coleman Buffalo Bills
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Keon Coleman #0 of the Buffalo Bills.
The former director of player personnel for the Buffalo Bills made a bold comment on his take on the Keon Coleman controversy currently taking place in western New York. Jim Monos, who served in that role from 2013-2017, joined NFL reporter Tyler Dunne on the “Go Long” podcast to discuss the situation.
“They should just cut Keon Coleman,” Monos said. “It would be one of the ultimate messages, moving to your owner and saying ‘yeah look, we messed up.’
Coleman was benched against Tampa Bay for missing a team meeting in the week leading up to the game, and will be benched again for the Bills Thursday night matchup against the Houston Texans.
It looked like a situation that could be a one-and-done message, with Sean McDermott benching Coleman against the Bucs, but now that he’s confirmed to be out for TNF, concern is growing around what’s really going on with the second-year receiver.
“[Bills-Bucs] was so sick on offense, they don’t need Keon Coleman,” Monos said. “That was against a real defense too, Tampa’s a big-time defense. At any point in that game, did you say ‘gosh, if they had Keon Coleman, they might win this game?’
Former Exec Calls For Buffalo to Cut Coleman
No one will argue that Keon Coleman is not a good receiver, with great upside as a second-year player. But for a team with Super Bowl aspirations like Buffalo, it could easily be argued that a poor-locker room personality is a bigger detriment to the team than losing that person’s offensive production.
There haven’t been any reports or inclinations that suggest Buffalo is actually looking to cut Coleman, and normally, outside analytical noise from pundits doesn’t constitute something actually happening. However, Monos was heavily involved with the Bills for five seasons and has the wherewithal to be confident making a comment like this.
He was also right when he talked about Buffalo’s success against Tampa Bay without Coleman in the lineup. The Bills put up 44 points against a very good Buccaneer defense without Coleman on the field and with Khalil Shakir making one catch for… checks notes negative three yards. Those are your top two receivers giving you less than zero production in a marquee game.
Instead of Coleman and Shakir, it was undrafted free agent Tyrell Shavers and recently signed Gabe Davis making up for that lost production. Great quarterbacks like Josh Allen can make replacement level receivers look like pro-bowlers, so it begs the question, do the Bills really need Keon Coleman if his locker-room presence is truly a distraction?
Bills Look to String Together Wins Against Another Strong Defense
Buffalo will take on the Houston Texans on the road on Thursday night. Though the Texans have shown few signs of life offensively, their defense has allowed the fewest points in the NFL. With Keon Coleman once again out, Allen and the Bills offense have another chance to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with no matter the opponent and no matter their personnel.
Kickoff on Thursday, Nov. 20 is set for 8:15 p.m. and can be streamed on Amazon Prime.