Earlier this season, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman was benched for two games for being late to a team meeting. It was at least the third publicly documented time Coleman was disciplined by the organization for off-field problems.
Since then, his teammates have rallied around him while also giving very direct and specific guidance to the 22-year-old second-year player.
Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame wide receiver Andre Reed also spoke with Coleman. The pair talked for nearly two hours on the
phone, with Reed sharing what it takes to make it as a professional football player.
“I didn’t berate him or say ‘you did this’ or ‘you did that’. I mean, he’s a young kid. I was 21 at one time,” said Reed via video chat this week. “I came into the league and I had to learn how to be a pro. Basically that’s the whole thing in one sentence: You gotta learn how to be a pro.”
It’s unclear whether or not Coleman fully received the message and internalized the changes he needs to make. While Reed says he thinks the conversation made sense to the young receiver, Coleman also brought up things he can’t control as part of the reason he hasn’t being successful.
“He was like ‘I got you’ and talking about what’s going on in the building as far as play calling and not enough targets and all that. I go, ‘you know every team has that. Believe it or not.’”
It’s that type of dismissive behavior that drew some pushback after the first game he missed due to the benching. He was dancing on the sideline before the November 16th game and while he did stand up and answer questions after the game, his answers weren’t entirely self-critical.
“Just got to be better,” said Coleman when talking to reporters in the tunnel after the game. “Better on my end… Mistakes happen. Things happen.”
Thad Brown from WROC in Rochester asked Coleman if there is a lesson he hasn’t learned at this point or a message that isn’t being received.
“Nah, I wouldn’t say that,” responded Coleman.
How the Buffalo Bills have mentored Keon Coleman should be questioned
When the Buffalo Bills drafted Josh Allen, they surrounded him with coaches and older players that had a ton of NFL experience. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey, quarterbacks Matt Barkley and Derek Anderson and later Davis Webb, Mitchell Trubisky, and Case Keenum. Not only did Allen seek outside counsel on his own during the offseason, there was a structure in place inside the building to help him.
It’s hard to say the Bills have done that Coleman, at least with the other players in the room. Wide receivers coach Adam Henry has a ton of experience coaching in the league.
Buffalo went into Coleman’s rookie season with journeymen Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as the elder statesmen in the receiver room. Curtis Samuel at 28 was the closest thing to a successful veteran presence in the room and was a top-40 pick like Coleman. Eventually, Amari Cooper was added to the mix at the trade deadline, but he’s known more as being a soft-spoken member of a team, not a vocal leader.
In 2025, the Bills brought back veteran Gabe Davis but only in September after the entire offseason. They added Brandin Cooks in November. Outside of Samuel, every other player in the room was 26 or younger during the entire offseason and training camp.
After Coleman’s suspension, it wasn’t a receiver who talked to the media about taking Coleman under his wing to mentor, it was left tackle Dion Dawkins. That’s great, but Dawkins isn’t with Coleman nearly as much as someone in the room would be.
Not having a player in the room led to the call with Reed, as well.
“That’s what I’m here for. Somebody mentored me. If I have to ask questions and I need somebody who’s been there and done that, I’m going to call somebody who’s been there and done that,” said Reed. “Keon came out from Florida State highly touted, there’s a stigma. I came from a small school as a fourth-round pick and nobody heard of me, so I didn’t have that on my back, but still it doesn’t matter. There’s still an expectation for you when you come in a building every single day to be that professional that they want you to be and if you can’t do that then it doesn’t matter what school you go to, you’re not going to be there. So it was a very, very good talk I had with him and I hope it made it made some sense to him and I think it did.”
When Reed joined the Bills, they were in the middle of consecutive 2-14 seasons, so he got to play right away despite being a mid-round pick. But he also had a great mentor to lean on and learn from.
“Jerry Butler was the man when I got there in ‘85. Coming from a D2 school back then, it was very unknown for a D2 guy to be starting on an NFL roster and I ended up starting and punt returning, too. Maybe it was because of the team dynamic and the players so I had more of a chance to show if I was able to play at this level, and Jerry Butler was always there for me to tell me how to be a pro out at practice, how to stay in your playbook, how to do all this stuff and I had to do more because I came from a small school.”
Reed was lucky to have Butler, as the veteran missed half the 1983 season and the entire 1984 season with a knee injury. The pair played together in 1985 and into the 1986 season before Butler shattered his ankle on a touchdown pass from Jim Kelly. He took his last NFL snap at age 29.
Big changes could be coming for Buffalo Bills wide receiver room this offseason
No Buffalo Bills receiver is on pace for more than 760 receiving yards in 2025, and Reed thinks that means big changes are coming this offseason led by general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott.
“You know obviously they don’t have a Ja’Marcus Chase, they don’t have a Justin Jefferson, or a Puka [Nacua], or a ‘number one’ guy that when you see him on film you go ‘Yep we can’t let that guy beat us. We’ll take our chances with everybody else.‘ Obviously probably in the offseason that will be the first issue that they have is we need a playmaker on the outside who’s consistent enough to change the dynamic of a game. All the good teams to a certain point have that guy.”
Coleman’s lack of growth both on and the off the field probably accelerates that timeline, too.
The Bills aren’t afraid to move on from top picks. They traded first-round pick Kair Elam after three disappointing seasons with the team. They traded second-rounder Boogie Basham after his first two seasons and third-round pick Zack Moss at the trade deadline inside his third season.
Andre Reed spoke with us at Buffalo Rumblings as part of the promotion around a special release by Bud Light this December. “Blizzard Brew” is made with real snow from Highmark Stadium as the team closes that historic building. Check out the link for more information.
