Keon Coleman

Quite a few head-scratches were going around late Saturday when news from a source leaked that Keon Coleman would be a healthy scratch for the Buffalo Bills in Week 11, just hours later.

Cue the wild speculation. The Bills were already without tight end Dalton Kincaid and wideout Elijah Moore against Tampa Bay, making the situation that much more confusing. Gabe Davis and Mecole Hardman were both elevated from the practice squad on Saturday.

The good news for Coleman (32 catches, 330 yards, three scores) is that being placed on the inactive list was reportedly not performance-related. The team expressed a desire to “see more from him” in other areas. Namely, other players inactive Sunday were contributors on special teams, where Coleman is not. The team needed to ensure that they had a full complement of personnel for all phases, making Coleman expendable despite what the source called “a really strong week of practice.”

Fantasy lowdown: While the move was a surprise, it didn’t make much of a sound in the grand scheme, as Josh Allen totaled six touchdowns in the Bills’ runaway win over the Buccaneers. Coleman should not remain sidelined for fantasy managers long, and has a chance to be active for Thursday night’s game at Houston.

Author: Samwise (@BuyAndSellYou)

Buffalo Bills 2024 1st round rookie receiver Keon Coleman struggled at times last year. Turns out he suffered a bone chip in his wrist in week 9. This helps explains the struggles in his rookie season. A bone chip makes catching the ball uncomfortable and especially blocking in the run game. Coleman is eager to put the struggles behind him and prove himself worthy of the 1st round pedigree in 2025. The Bills will be happy to have one of the recievers to take a step up as the number one option for their star quarterback in Josh Allen. Last year’s leading reciever Kahlil Shakir is a serviceable option but he is not a game changer. The Bills also signed Josh Palmer from the LA Chargers to help shore up the passing core. Coleman will have every opportunity to take the reign and he sounds eager to do it.

Keon Coleman was a dominant receiver in college as evident in his 81st percentile College Dominater rating of 39.6%. Coleman has great size at 6’3″ and 213 pounds. While he is not very fast, he uses his size and body control to make plays. He is currently WR 59 in ADP, which is a absolute steal if he becomes the number one option for Josh Allen. Allen and Coleman will make for great stacks in all fantasy formats.

Author: Jesse Baldwin @J_Baldwin51 

The Bills have been without a top receiving threat since Stefon Diggs’ departure. The team traded out of the first round in 2024 before taking Coleman at the beginning of the second. Coleman (still 22 years old) will look to build on his inaugural season, in which he posted just 22 receptions for 556 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Despite the pedestrian overall numbers for Coleman, he did post a gaudy 19.2 yards per reception, good for 4th in the league. Many of his efficiency numbers look good, in fact. What slowed him down was being in a crowded receiving room with several veterans who stole snaps from the rookie. To that point, Coleman, who ran only 308 routes in 2024 (76th overall), has a case to break out if he sees more usage.

I was higher than some and lower than others on Coleman coming out of Florida State. He’s a rangy wideout who’s better in contested catch situations than he is at gaining separation. I think he could be a significant threat in the red zone. I like Coleman at his current redraft ADP, although I’m concerned the team will deploy a wide receiver by committee approach once again in 2025 and therefore wouldn’t go out of my way to reach for him.

-Blake Stachel (@bllakkay)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman and tight end Dalton Kincaid are expected to practice in full leading up to the Bill’s much-anticipated showdown with the Detroit Lions, according to Ian Rapoport. Coleman has missed the past four games due to a wrist ailment, while Kincaid has been sidelined since Week 10 with a knee injury.

While Coleman’s return figures to slightly downgrade the prospects of Khalil Shakir, Amari Cooper, and Mack Hollins, among others, the rookie boosts quarterback Josh Allen’s fantasy upside even further as a lethal deep threat in Joe Brady’s offense. Meanwhile, Kincaid should operate as the team’s top tight end once again, making Dawson Knox expendable in all formats.

Bills rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman has risen up draft boards significantly since the Pre-NFL Draft to today. Of note, Keon Coleman has moved up 60.9 spots from round 12 on UnderDog to round 7.

There is largely a bearish sentiment on Keon Coleman due to his inability to create separation ala Stefon Diggs. Psychologically, there is a difficulty reconciling Keon Coleman not being Stefon Diggs while having the issue of not offering the agility in route running his predecessor provided. 

Josh Allen’s career took off once he had Stefon Diggs in town. The concern isn’t whether or not Josh Allen can thrive, rather if Keon Coleman can garner enough attention in the Bills offense to draw significant enough target share to warrant being selected in round 7. Tight end Dalton Kincaid goes in round 5 and is being hyped as the focal point in the Bills offense in the same vein as Travis Kelce is used on the Chiefs. 

With the concern of Dalton Kincaid being the alpha target hog in the Bills offense, Coleman also has to deal with Curtis Samuel having an edge in experience having worked with offensive coordinator Joe Brady prior. Add in the Bills expected proclivity to run the ball more with James Cook and Josh Allen calling his own number, keeping a level headed approach when selecting Keon Coleman in drafts will prove wise. Incorporate a low 4-8% requisite exposure or fade all together, but don’t get caught with heavy bags on the Bills rookie wideout.