It’s often said that the acronym “NFL” stands for “Not For Long” rather than National Football League. While this might seem like a cliché, those who use the phrase mean it in many different ways. For teams, it means that the thrill of victory can be fleeting. For players, it means that their time in the spotlight may disappear as quickly as it arrives.
With the Buffalo Bills’ 44-32 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we have yet another example of what happens when opportunity arrives.
The day began with a benching, as second-year wide receiver Keon Coleman was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. It was revealed that Coleman, who has been disciplined by the Bills twice before for punctuality and professionalism issues in meetings, missed another meeting on Friday. This led to the decision to render Coleman a healthy scratch in Week 11.
With Coleman out, Buffalo relied on a pair of unlikely heroes to fill his spot.
One was wide receiver Gabe Davis, a veteran with a proven track record in Buffalo before he left to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was released after one unproductive, injury-plagued season, and had been on Buffalo’s practice squad while recovering from knee surgery.
The other player called upon to replace Coleman was wide receiver Tyrell Shavers, a 2023 undrafted free agent who entered this game with eight catches, 151 receiving yards, and one touchdown on his professional resume.
With Coleman sidelined, the men who replaced him had themselves a game. Davis caught three passes for 40 yards, including a critical grab to convert a fourth down early in the contest that led to Buffalo’s first touchdown.
Shavers had a breakout day, leading the team with four catches and 90 receiving yards. He also tied starting wide receiver Joshua Palmer for the team lead in targets with five. Shavers made one huge play, catching a 43-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Allen. The reigning NFL MVP played some backyard football before launching a strike to his new “X” man.
All told, the players tasked with replacing Coleman caught seven passes on nine targets for 130 yards and a score.
To put this into perspective, Coleman entered this game averaging four catches for 40 yards per game. He’s scored three touchdowns this season. However, if you remove the outlier—his eight-catch, 112-yard performance on opening night against the Baltimore Ravens—his averages drop to three catches for 27 yards per game. Frankly, that’s just not good enough.
Coleman is Buffalo’s second-leading receiver this season, trailing only tight end Dalton Kincaid in key statistical categories, and wide receiver Khalil Shakir in receiving yards.
Is Coleman’s lack of maturity holding him back, or is it something else? If it’s a work ethic issue, then Coleman needs to wake up, and soon, if he wants to stay on track with the Bills. Nothing is more sobering than watching the players you’d expect to compete against outperform you in a game you missed time for because of your own immaturity.
As a coach, it’s hard to watch today’s production from the “X” receiver spot, then review game tape with Coleman playing the same spot, and still feel confident that Coleman deserves those snaps moving forward.
Of course, one game is not enough to base an entire narrative on; however, Coleman’s sample size is much larger than that. In his career, his average game is three catches for 40 yards—and again, that just isn’t good enough.
We could lean on talks about his athleticism, but that hasn’t helped him so far. Consider these NFL Scouting Combine results:
– Player A: 4.61-second 40-yard dash, 38” vertical, 10’7” broad jump
– Player B: 4.59-second 40-yard dash, 33” vertical, 9’11” broad jump
Player A is Keon Coleman. Player B is Tyrell Shavers.
While you can debate their verticals and broad jumps, when we look at them as professional wideouts, the argument can be made that they offer similar capabilities. In fact, Shavers arguably offers more to the team as a whole, given his special teams contributions.
Adding Davis as a rotational piece, the Bills face a full-out issue with Coleman’s performance and maturity.
Physically, Coleman and Shavers are also similar in height, with Coleman standing 6’3” and Shavers 6’4”.
Players fight hard to remain on the field. That’s why many play through injuries that would make most of us cringe. But what happens when you give your backups an opportunity because of your own mistakes? And then, to add insult to injury, those backups significantly outplay you in a game your team wins?
Keon Coleman is now on notice.
The Buffalo passing offense didn’t miss a beat without him, and arguably looked better than it has in most games this season. Buffalo’s coaching staff certainly took note of today’s victory and will likely hammer home the message during team meetings on Monday.
Buffalo invested heavily in Coleman, selecting him with their first draft choice in the 2024 NFL Draft, so there’s more “cost” involved in his development than with Shavers and Davis. However, the staff can’t let that cloud their judgment.
They need to play the players who help the team win now rather than those who might justify past decisions.
Because, as we all know, if the Bills don’t win, one can describe the coaching staff’s job security with a fairly popular acronym: “Not For Long.”
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/buffalo-bills-thinking-x-receiver-000621452.html
