The Buffalo Bills will be without Keon Coleman once again this week.
The second-year wide receiver will not be in uniform for Buffalo’s “Thursday Night Football” contest against the Houston Texans. This comes one week after he was ruled inactive due to reported team conduct issues. With Curtis Samuel also sidelined and Mecole Hardman Jr. on injured reserve, the Bills have once more called up Gabe Davis from the practice squad.
The problem with Coleman last week stemmed from the 22-year-old reportedly being absent from a team meeting on Friday. It remains unknown if anything else has transpired since then, though Bills head coach Sean McDermott indicated earlier this week that regaining the team’s trust will not be an immediate process.
From ESPN:
“I’m aware of how he handled it more publicly, and I appreciate that and respect that,” coach Sean McDermott said on Tuesday. “And now it’s again, one day at a time, and earning the trust and respect of the teammates. And that takes time, so that each day that goes by, you check ’em off as wins, trust builds. So, that’s the important piece of it.”
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The Bills offense didn’t seem to suffer much without Coleman in a 44-32 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Quarterback Josh Allen completed 19 of 30 passes for 317 yards with 3 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions and was not sacked, and he also ran for 40 yards and 3 touchdowns. However, only about half of those passing yards were caught by wide receivers, with Tyrell Shavers being the only one in that group to exceed 40 receiving yards.
Coleman, the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, was drafted with the hope that he would develop into a classic X receiver, a sizable target for Allen to target consistently, particularly in the red zone. He had a reasonably promising start as a rookie starter, accumulating 556 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 13 games, but his performance has declined somewhat this year.
Disciplinary issues are also not new for him, as this will be the fourth instance where he has missed at least part of a game for such reasons. He was kept out of the first series of a game earlier this season and missed the first quarter of another last year.
