The Buffalo Bills‘ receivers coach has delivered the most direct public assessment yet of Keon Coleman‘s offseason, telling The Buffalo News that the third-year wideout has been “lights out” since the new staff arrived — while making clear the criticism that followed Coleman into 2026 was partly his own doing. The comments, highlighted Saturday by Two Bills Drive, advance a story this desk covered last week, when Coleman himself called 2026 his make-or-break season.
“I told him when he got here, ‘I don’t care whatever narrative has been devised about you,’” Drew Terrell told The Buffalo News. “A lot of that is your fault. Things you’ve brought on yourself. You can’t look at it as a victim. You’ve got to take whatever it is on the chin and do your best every day. Ever since I’ve gotten here, he’s been lights out.”
The two halves of that quote matter equally. Coaches praise players in July as a matter of routine; they rarely say, on the record, that a struggling former second-round pick brought his reputation on himself. Terrell is doing both at once — establishing accountability as the baseline and then reporting that Coleman has met it every day since the staff turned over. For a player who caught 38 passes for 404 yards and four touchdowns last season and spent the winter in trade speculation, that is a meaningfully different tone than the generic fresh-start language of March.
It also fits what the organization has signaled all offseason. General manager Brandon Beane publicly backed a “full reset” for Coleman under the new coaching staff, and Coleman spent the spring reworking his release and route detail with former Bills receiver Stevie Johnson. From a roster-building standpoint, the incentive is obvious: Coleman is still on his rookie contract, and a functional Coleman is the cheapest possible answer to Buffalo’s receiver questions — far cheaper than the veteran alternatives the front office would otherwise have to shop for in-season. The proof, though, starts July 29, when camp opens and the pads eventually go on. Spring praise has never been Coleman’s problem; sustaining it into September has.
For fantasy purposes, Coleman remains a late-round flier, but this is the kind of coach-speak that moves August ADP. A receivers coach staking his credibility on the turnaround, plus a rookie-deal player with a clear path to red-zone targets from Josh Allen, is a sensible dart throw in deeper leagues and a legitimate buy-low window in dynasty formats — with the caveat that nothing is proven until he beats out a crowded receiver room in camp.
