The Buffalo Bills' 2024 offense ranked No. 2 in scoring, top-10 in both rushing and passing yards and was led by the season's NFL MVP in quarterback Josh Allen.
But amid the team success, there's one player who vocally admitted this week that he was not at all satisfied with his individual performance: wide receiver Keon Coleman.
"You want to know exactly what I see? When that s--- trash, you got to be better, simple as that," Coleman said of his thoughts looking back on his tape from his first year in the league. "You gotta be more efficient here. You gotta get out of this break. You got to stack your DB. You got to give Josh more room to throw the ball. You gotta catch that. You gotta make that block. You got to get that extra effort on the touchdown block so if Jimbo (James Cook) breaks it, he's up the sideline. Just different things like that. Calling out everything that you're doing wrong to make it right."
Taken No. 33 overall in last year's draft, Coleman was selected with the hope he could develop into a go-to target after the departure of Stefon Diggs. Coleman certainly had his moments in his rookie campaign, including a 125-yard outing in Week 7, but missed four weeks in the second half of the season due to injury and never quite broke out as Buffalo had hoped.
In the end, Coleman finished with 29 receptions for 556 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games (12 starts) during the regular season, adding on just three catches for 22 yards in three postseason contests.
However, no one could deny that Coleman made the most of his opportunities, averaging 19.2 yards per reception, a stat that would have put him at No. 2 in the league in that category had he not fallen just short of the required minimum receptions needed to qualify.
But despite this caveat, Coleman made clear with his scathing remarks this week that those numbers just won't do.
"You just call a spade a spade. It's ain't no like 'Ah, that was trash, well I did do this right,'" he said. "Nah, it's either plus or minus, and that's just how you go about it."
A breakout campaign for Coleman would certainly help answer some questions about the support the Bills have provided to surround their prize quarterback, especially after Diggs was traded away last spring.
Though Coleman's 556 yards were not up to his own personal ambitions, they nevertheless ranked second on the team, only behind Khalil Shakir's 821. Behind them were the team's two tight ends, Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox, as well as a group of receivers that included Mack Hollins, Curtis Samuel and -- for the second half of the season -- Amari Cooper. But none of those players cleared 500 yards on the season, and Hollins and Cooper have since departed in the offseason, leaving an opening for someone to grab a more substantial role in 2025.
The Bills have looked to address this concern over receiving weapons by signing free agents Josh Palmer and Elijah Moore, but nevertheless a big second-year jump from their 22-year-old wideout would be more than welcome as the team looks to finally break through in the postseason.
"Truth of the matter is, technically, I am young coming into my second year but we're all on the same playing field at this point," Coleman said. "No excuses get made for me for being young, it's either plus or minus, it's either good or it's bad."
