There might not be a more polarizing player on the Buffalo Bills’ roster right now than Keon Coleman.
The 6-foot-3, 213-pound receiver was the apple of the Bills eye when Buffalo grabbed him with the No. 33 overall pick in 2024. Two seasons later, the returns are underwhelming: 67 receptions for 960 yards and eight touchdowns on 116 targets in 26 regular-season games, plus five catches for 68 yards in five playoff appearances.
Ball security, meeting tardiness, healthy scratches down the stretch of 2025 — it has all added up to a third-year receiver that is facing the expectations of the team’s coaches and fans looking for him to step up.
The 23-year-old knows it. He has called 2026 a “make-or-break year”. The people around him still believe he can be what the Bills drafted him to be as well.
So does former Bills receiver Stevie Johnson. And he made that belief public with a bold prediction for Coleman.
“His average should be at least 60 yards [a game],” he said. “If he can get 600-800 yards [for the season], the next year after that is only going to be better. … The sky’s the limit for him.”
The Bills brought in former receiver Stevie Johnson this offseason as a mentor, and the pairing makes sense. Johnson had three 1,000-yard seasons with the Bills, dealt with his own public scrutiny, and understands what it means to be a big talent and personality in a small market.
Johnson’s focus was on the game within the game: how to make the quarterback want to throw you the ball, how to adjust routes when defensive backs give space, and how to use Coleman’s size to impose on defenders.
Their first meeting came before OTAs at the University of San Diego, and Johnson said that Coleman surprised him from the start.
“I thought he was gonna be immature,” he shared. “I thought he was going to be, not a student of the game, just a very talented player with God-given skills … But just right off the bat, … he was locked in, wanting to learn things, open to the constructive criticism. He was asking questions.”
That Coleman is hungry, coachable, and looking for any way to learn how to improve are good signs.
A season of 800 yards and eight touchdowns would have led every Bills receiver in 2025, where Khalil Shakir paced the team with 719 yards and Dalton Kincaid led with five receiving touchdowns. The last Bills player to catch at least eight touchdown passes in a season was Stefon Diggs in 2023.
Johnson is not predicting a quiet breakout but one of the best receiving seasons since Diggs was traded. And with the addition of WR1 D.J. Moore, that is closer than ever to becoming a reality for Coleman and Buffalo.
Johnson and Coleman’s connection runs deeper than both being former Bills receivers. Both played high-level basketball. Both had to answer questions about whether their style would translate. Both understand what it means to be a big personality in a market that notices everything.
In a June 3 appearance on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, Johnson told the show about other ways that Coleman surprised him from their first session together and how the basketball skills translate as well.
“His skills, I mean, it’s beyond what I even thought (he had to work with). … He can run smooth. He can move like a guard (in basketball), but he’s like a small- or power-forward build. So, it’s just about showing up and being available because everything else will take care of itself with a talented guy like Keon Coleman.”
Johnson also noted the veteran environment Coleman walked into as a rookie. When Johnson came into the league in 2008, he was surrounded by veterans like Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish and Josh Reed. When Coleman arrived, the room was younger and quieter. Johnson’s role is partly to fill that void — to teach the professional details that don’t show up on a college highlight reel.
Johnson followed up on X that the work was “serious” and that Coleman was “ready for all the serious smoke.” The Bills hope will translate into his play on the field this season.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Stevie Johnson’s big prediction for Bills WR Keon Coleman
Reporting by Bills Wire / Bills Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bills Wire | USA TODAY Network
