Bills fans kept the receipts on Keon Coleman-Brandon Beane that contradict Terry Pegula's blame game

Daniel Mader

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Bills fans kept the receipts on Keon Coleman-Brandon Beane that contradict Terry Pegula's blame game image

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Plenty of drama has surrounded the Buffalo Bills to begin their 2026 offseason.

After a heartbreaking 33-30 loss to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round, head coach Sean McDermott was stunningly fired despite years of taking the Bills to the playoffs. With Buffalo now seeking a new voice to lead Josh Allen, team owner Terry Pegula made a rare public appearance on Wednesday alongside recently-promoted executive Brandon Beane, with the two offering insight into their decision to fire McDermott and what's next for the franchise.

However, during Wednesday's press conference, Pegula also stirred up some intrigue around wide receiver Keon Coleman, who hasn't quite lived up to his second-round price tag in the 2024 draft. Pegula suggested that the decision to draft Coleman, who was benched during the 2025 season for missing team meetings, was made by McDermott and the coaching staff, leaving Beane blameless in the pick that hasn't worked out.

But fans on social media were quick to debunk that suggestion; videos from the 2024 draft process showed Beane making comments that were undoubtedly in favor of drafting Coleman.

Here's what Pegula said about Coleman on Wednesday, how draft videos contradicted his comments and a look back at the Bills' draft selection of the wide receiver.

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What did Terry Pegula say about drafting Keon Coleman?

While most of Wednesday's press conference with Pegula and Beane highlighted the decision to fire McDermott, including the "playoff wall" the two believed Buffalo had hit, the team owner also had a moment where he threw some shade on the draft selection of Keon Coleman in 2024.

Coleman is still on the Bills, although he had a rocky 2025 season that included a benching from McDermott.

Beane was in the middle of speaking about Coleman on Wednesday, saying that he still believes in the receiver despite some past maturity issues, when Pegula interrupted to take the heat off his newly promoted President of Football Operations for the 2024 pick.

"Can I interrupt? I'll address the Keon situation. The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon. I'm not saying Brandon wouldn't have drafted him, but [Coleman] 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 a player. 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."

MORE: Full recap from Bills' press conference with Terry Pegula, Brandon Beane

Draft videos show Brandon Beane supporting Keon Coleman pick

Pegula hinted at the draft choice of Coleman in 2024 being one made by Sean McDermott and the Bills' coaching staff, saying Coleman wasn't Beane's "next choice." But a pair of insightful looks into Buffalo's draft room, shared in 2024, would suggest otherwise.

In a video where Beane is discussing potential draft selections with a scout, the then-general manager asks if there were any big surprises at the combine. The scout answers by describing Keon Coleman's slow 40-yard dash time, and Beane says, "I'm glad he ran that. It'll help to get him."

Beane and his scouts also compared Coleman’s to a former receiver draft choice of theirs, Gabriel Davis, who ran an underwhelming 4.54, falling to the Bills in the fourth round and becoming a solid player for the squad. 

Another clip also went around where Beane says that ahead of the draft, the night before when he went to bed, he was thinking the pick would be "Keon [Coleman] unless someone just blows us away."

"We didn't feel anything was attractive enough for us to pass up on Keon," Beane said.

While Beane himself hasn't officially addressed whose decision it was to select Coleman, including on Wednesday, Pegula's comments pinned it on the coaching staff — which is fairly contradictory to those draft videos, where Beane is the one to initiate a pro-Coleman stance. 

MORE: Latest rumors, reports on Bills' coaching search

Keon Coleman 40 time 

At the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, Coleman underwhelmed a bit when he posted an official 4.61 in the 40-yard dash. With that event often being teams' best judgement of how fast a player is, especially at critical positions for speed like wide receiver, it was a bit of a hit to Coleman's draft outlook — his 4.61 was the second-worst among all receivers at the combine.

In the viral draft video, Bills GM Brandon Beane reflected the stance that Coleman's lackluster 40 time would be a good thing for his team, as it would "help to get him" by keeping other teams away from drafting him — Buffalo was hoping Coleman would fall to them at the beginning of the second round.

The Bills also had other reasons to feel confident in Coleman's "game speed," as in a different part of the combine, the gauntlet drill, Coleman hit 20.36 mph, the highest of all wide receivers.

Keon Coleman draft pick

As the Bills were hoping, Coleman fell into the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Buffalo selected him with the 33rd overall pick, the first choice of the second round.

Coleman was the eighth wide receiver off the board, after Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 4, Cardinals), Malik Nabers (No. 6, Giants), Rome Odunze (No. 9, Bears), Brian Thomas Jr. (No. 23, Jaguars), Xavier Worthy (No. 28, Chiefs), Ricky Pearsall (No. 31, 49ers) and Xavier Legette (No. 32, Panthers).

Wide receivers taken off the board in the second and third rounds, after Coleman, include Ladd McConkey (No. 34, Chargers), Ja'Lynn Polk (No. 37, Patriots), Adonai Mitchell (No. 52, Colts), Malachi Corley (No. 65, Jets), Jermaine Burton (No. 80, Bengals) and Roman Wilson (No. 84, Steelers).

Of that group, going with Coleman over McConkey is the choice that the Bills have likely regretted the most — the now-Chargers receiver posted 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie before 789 yards and six touchdowns in 2025. While Coleman has flashed talent, he overall has struggled to break through in a Bills wide receiver room needing go-to weapons for Josh Allen. Meanwhile, McConkey has emerged as a reliable choice for Justin Herbert in Los Angeles.

Keon Coleman stats

Here's a look at Keon Coleman's NFL stats so far.

SeasonGamesReceptionsYardsYPCTDs
2024132955619.24
2025133840410.64
Totals:266796014.38

MORE: Why the Bills should trade Keon Coleman after Terry Pegula comments

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