The Buffalo Bills have been the topic of discussion for all the wrong reasons over the las month. Their passing game has grown to be more inconsistent than explosive, and their offense as a whole has made Josh Allen a passenger rather than the driver.
By far the largest reason for this is due to the stubbornness of the Bills' front office, which didn't add a legitimate No. 1 receiver in the offseason or at the trade deadline. Instead, Buffalo put all its eggs in the Keon Coleman basket, and those eggs turned to chickens which have now come to roost.
Keon Coleman has not produced for the Buffalo Bills
Coleman had a slow rookie season that many Bills fans shrugged off, as did the decision-makers at One Bills Drive. He finished last season with just 29 catches in 13 games. This season, though, he did come out of the gates strong against the Baltimore Ravens, catching 8 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown. In the weeks since, though, Coleman hasn't had over 50 yards in a game, and has had 30 or fewer yards in six games.
The easy deflection of those numbers is that Josh Allen isn't getting him the ball enough. Well, that's hard for Allen to do when Coleman isn't open. Per Next Gen Stats, Coleman averaged a measly 1.9 yards of separation against the Miami Dolphins - a team starting reserve cornerbacks because of several injuries. On the season, that number grows to just 2.8 yards of separation on average.
It would be one thing if Coleman was still making big catches despite not getting much separation, but he's not. Per PFF, he has one contested catch all season. The Bills drafted Coleman to be a Drake London-esc receiver, and he simply isn't that.
Coleman may thrive if he was used as a slot receiver, but that's why the Bills have Khalil Shakir, making the drafting of Coleman completely redundant. He isn't a good boundary receiver that will go up and make contested catches. The fit makes no sense, and the Bills should make Elijah Moore a larger focus on the boundary, as he proved to be a reliable target for the Cleveland Browns in 2024, and has averaged over four yards of separation on 80 routes run this season.
The insistence on forcing a square peg into a round hole has hurt the Bills offense, and will only continue to do so if they don't make the necessary adjustments. That doesn't mean Coleman should never touch the field again, but he should do so in a lesser role that fits what he does well, which is making plays after the catch. Meanwhile, Moore gets a bigger piece of the target shares and operates more as the primary boundary receiver. Considering the lack of effectiveness we've seen from what Buffalo has been doing, trying something new certainly couldn't hurt and should be explored.
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