Everyone in Buffalo admits the 2026 season will be pivotal for Keon Coleman’s future. Finally live up to expectations, and the receiver can provide the Bills a dimension to put them over the top. Continue struggling, and he’ll 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 a chunk of the campaign. As part of Coleman’s preparation for 2026, he linked up with former Bills receiver Stevie Johnson, who understands the pressure of performing in Buffalo. It was in Johnson’s third season that he broke out, generating three consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns from 2010-12.
Coleman and Johnson worked out in the spring at the University of San Diego, and the 23-year-old’s demeanor surprised Johnson given all he’d 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 skills," Johnson told ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. "But just right off the bat ... he was locked in, wanting to learn things, open to the constructive criticism. He was asking questions."
The 6-foot-3, 213-pound Coleman said the similarities in his and Johnson’s build (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and mentalities meshed off the bat.
"Similar build players, similar backgrounds when it come[s] to sports we play, how we move, how we see the game," Coleman said of the 39-year-old former wideout. "So, it's like two knuckleheads going at it. A lot of IQ guys that love the game and we could talk ball for hours."