The Buffalo Bills have had an NFL Draft strategy under general manager Brandon Beane that has yet to optimize the surrounding cast around quarterback Josh Allen. Drafting disproportionately by need had led to a questionable run of early-round selections and diminished confidence in the roster’s long-term future as the defense continues to age.
With Allen under center, a Super Bowl is undeniably within reach. So many times, Buffalo has come excruciatingly close to getting over the hump and securing a spot in the Big Game. But when 2022 first-round pick Kaiir Elam gets exposed for the duration of the AFC Championship Game and 2023 first-rounder Dalton Kincaid drops the season’s final pass, it’s worth wondering what better luck on Day 1 could have meant for the franchise.
In 2024, Buffalo notably picked receiver Keon Coleman in Round 2, allowing the Kansas City Chiefs to take receiver Xavier Worthy. Kansas City’s rookie played well throughout the playoffs. Coleman logged a single catch for 12 yards against the Chiefs when it mattered most.
As such, the Bills received a brutal grade for their 2024 rookie class, continuing a trend that will only grow more concerning as Allen’s contract impacts the salary cap.
NFL.com graded Buffalo’s class as a D+, ahead of only the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns.
“The biggest pre-draft question about Keon Coleman was whether he could separate at the NFL level, with his 4.61 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine only furthering concerns,” Gennaro Filice wrote. “His supporters countered that separation knock by touting his contested-catch ability, but he struggled in both areas as a rookie. His inability to separate was clear to the naked eye but also underscored by a number of Next Gen Stats metrics.
“Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus charted that Coleman received 19 contested targets and caught just seven, giving him a subpar conversion rate of 36.8 percent. Frankly, following a November wrist injury that sidelined him for a month, Coleman struggled to find a connection with Josh Allen on any sort of pass, catching just 10 of his 29 targets over the final seven games (playoffs included).”
Appearing in 13 games, Coleman logged just 29 catches for 556 yards and four scores as a rookie. He never profiled as much of a high-volume target earner due to his proclivity as a ball-winner and not a separator, but he clearly fell behind his peers as Buffalo’s offense raced to the end zone.
He’ll head into a pivotal Year 2 hoping to establish himself as a more trustworthy threat, but his uninspiring rookie campaign demands reinforcement at receiver this offseason.
“The rest of the class was pretty unremarkable, though Ray Davis provided some juice in the backfield and Cole Bishop played decent in spot duty at safety, racking up a team-high 10 tackles in the AFC Championship Game,” Filice concluded.
With little hope of additional starters coming from the 2024 class, the pressure is on for Beane to exceed expectations in April and make the best of limited draft capital to get the Bills over the hump.
