Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - Right after the Buffalo Bills' 2023 season ended in January, general manager Brandon Beane said his team needed to get younger in certain areas.
While they did have a 30-year-old Stefon Diggs on the roster, wide receiver didn’t seem like one of the areas they really needed to go with a youth movement. Then, in early April, the Bills traded Diggs, voiding them of a true top wideout.
Just over three weeks later, they drafted Keon Coleman with the first pick of the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, also the Bills' first pick of the weekend.
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Coleman isn’t even old enough to buy alcohol yet. He’s just 20-years-old, turning 21 on May 17. He’ll now be paired with soon-to-be-28-year-old Josh Allen for the Bills quarterbacks’ prime years, as Beane reshapes the wide receiver room following the addition of Curtis Samuel and the departures of Diggs, as well as Gabe Davis via free agency.
Following his selection early Friday evening, Coleman told the local Buffalo media via his introductory Zoom call that even though he had no idea why a Wyoming football game was being shown on his television several years ago, he watched it and became a fan of Allen’s ever since.
Beane and head coach Sean McDermott had talked a lot this offseason about adding dynamic playmakers to their offense, especially those who can make big-plays down the field and with the ball in their hands.
Coleman doesn’t possess the kind of speed you’d normally associate with those types of players, running a 4.61 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. However, Beane said the 6-foot-4, 210-pound wideout has much faster game speed, noting the Bills had access to his GPS information in college, which pegged him closer to the 4.5 range.
When asked about his perceived lack of speed, Coleman said he’s never been caught from behind, can outrun people, and added that people who talk about that aren’t the ones on the field with or against him who know.
