Bills Coach Joe Brady Says He Still Believes in Struggling WR Keon Coleman

Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady still has faith in wide receiver Keon Coleman.

By his own admission, Brady was among the coaches who advocated drafting Coleman in the 2024 NFL Draft. Coleman has struggled in his two seasons with the team, posting fewer than 1,000 yards and dealing with off-field issues in 2025. Despite the early struggles, Brady believes the revamped coaching staff can help him unlock his potential.

“The thing with Keon is, from a football standpoint, his work ethic, his approach, how he’s going through it, if Keon just takes care of himself off the field and he just shows up, he’s going to be good to go,” Brady said at the NFL Annual Meetings on March 31.

“The growth that Keon’s going to have from this year to next … I was the first to tell everybody I wanted Keon Coleman. So, Keon’s not going to just be pushed aside. He’s going to continue developing. [Wide receivers coach] Drew Terrell is going, we have a great plan of what we’re going to do to be able to get him to be the receiver that we ultimately drafted to be. And um I I’m we’re in constant communication with him.”

Coleman was drafted by the Bills out of Florida State with the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, Coleman missed four games due to a wrist injury. In 13 games, he finished with 29 receptions for 556 yards and 4 touchdowns.

In 2025, Coleman played in 13 games but started only 6; off-field issues plagued him throughout the season. He missed a team meeting in November and was inactive for that game; he ended up inactive for three more games. He finished the season with 38 catches for 404 yards and 4 scores.

Coleman’s struggles prompted questions from the media about the quality of the wide receiver room. At an end-of-season news conference, owner Terry Pegula deflected blame from general manager Brandon Beane onto the coaching staff.

“The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon. I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him, but he wasn’t his next choice,” Pegula said. “That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff, who felt strongly about the player. And you know, he’s taken—for some reason—heat over it, and not saying a word about it. But I’m here to tell you the true story.”

The Bills traded for D.J. Moore from the Chicago Bears and signed journeyman veteran Trent Sherfield in free agency. Brady coached Moore when he served as the offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers. They also have veterans Josh Palmer, Khalil Shakir, Mecole Hardman, and Jalen Virgil, as well as 2023 undrafted free agent Tyrell Shavers and 2025 UDFA Stephen Gosnell on the roster.

To unlock his potential, Brady intends to address the off-field issues directly and bring the entire staff together to achieve that goal.

“I think the reality of it is, we can’t just coach the players, we have to coach the person, right?” Brady said.

“And that’s part of the meetings that I’ve had as a head coach right now, is making sure that as the head coach that I’m understanding the integration between our player development team [and] our strength staff, between the coaches, making sure … that we’re all here together so that we all have a plan … But we can’t take it for granted, right? And Keon’s not the only person that’s going to have a plan, right? There’s going to be a lot of people, but it’s making sure that he’s not hearing it from two different people or people working in silos.”