The Buffalo Bills spent most of this season figuring out how to operate without Keon Coleman. Late to a few meetings, benched. Unable to get open, left on the sideline. Failing to make big plays, pushed aside in favor of less-heralded receivers.
Now, though, the Bills have no choice: They need Coleman more than ever.
Joshua Palmer went on Injured Reserve before the playoffs started and won't be taking part. And now Gabe Davis and Tyrell Shavers have both torn their ACLs.
Before whatever practice squad maneuvering the Bills do for Saturday's playoff game in Denver, they've got just three healthy WRs on the active roster: Coleman, Khalil Shakir and Brandin Cooks.
Shakir is a slot guy. Cooks is a small deep threat. Coleman is the only player in that group with impactful size.
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He was supposed to have blossomed by now, a 2024 second-round pick out of Florida State who can make contested catches and show off immense athleticism after the catch, too.
Instead, it's been a stop-and-start ride (mostly stop) through two seasons.
By the end of his rookie campaign, Coleman had flashed enough to make it seem like year two would be a big one. The Bills didn't seek out a true No. 1 WR in free agency (Stefon Diggs, anyone?), with an assumption that Coleman was ready.
Instead, he put up some of the worst separation metrics in the league in the early going, then failed to be on time to some team activities that left him a healthy scratch for multiple games.
There's even been speculation that after the season, the Bills could look to trade Coleman, to give him some kind of change of scenery and fresh start.
But before that time arrives, Buffalo will need Coleman. He's still got impressive natural talent. He's still an athlete so gifted that he not only played football to begin his college career at Michigan State, but basketball for Tom Izzo's Spartans, too.
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Coleman has shown, in brief glimpses, that there is eye-catching wide receiver talent within him.
The Bills may not need gigantic games out of him. They've got a lot of other talented players on the offense.
But there will be a moment or two when Coleman is called upon, because the Bills have no one else of his ilk to call upon. And they'll need him to deliver.
The irony of that, at the end of a season like this for Coleman, is quite rich.
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