Keon Coleman is such a good athlete that when he left high school and originally enrolled at Michigan State, he wasn’t just a football player for the Spartans. He played basketball, too.
This wasn’t just some second-rate hoops program, either. This was for Tom Izzo, one of this generation’s great coaches. Izzo wasn’t going to just have a football player on his team for fun. He was going to have Coleman around only if Coleman could play.
Coleman’s hooping was impressive, but he was an even better wide receiver, which eventually led him from MSU to transfer to the Florida State Seminoles, where he developed into a surefire NFL Draft pick.
The Buffalo Bills were the team that drafted Coleman’s supreme athleticism and silly personality early in the 2024 NFL Draft, but it hasn’t worked out so far.
Coleman had a quiet year one, a bumpy year two and was nearly shutout in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season on Sunday — catching just one pass for one yard.
The Bills are right back in action on Thursday Night Football in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions, and many will be watching to see what Coleman can do.
He just hasn’t shown a knack for actually doing much of anything most of the times he takes to an NFL field.
Is Keon Coleman Playing Tonight?
Yes, Coleman is active and healthy and playing on Thursday night.
It’s just not clear how much the Bills will throw him the football. In the season opener, he got just one target from QB Josh Allen, a one-yard reception.
Coleman did play on about 50% of the offensive snaps, though, the third-most in the wide receiver group behind standouts DJ Moore and Khalil Shakir. The Bills are giving him a shot to be their second outside receiver opposite Moore.
It was Joshua Palmer who caught the game-winning touchdown, though, and that could bode poorly for Coleman’s potential playing time going forward.
Keon Coleman College Stats
Coleman ended up playing three seasons of college football.
In his first year at Michigan State, he caught seven passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.
He broke out in 2022, his second MSU season, when he caught 58 passes for 798 yards and seven touchdowns.
Then after his transfer to FSU, Coleman’s 2023 season included 50 grabs for 658 yards and an ACC-best 11 TDs.
Coleman was also Florida State’s punt returner, and he led the ACC as well with 300 punt return yards on 25 returns (12.0 yards per return).
The 6-foot-4 Coleman also appeared in six college basketball games for Michigan State in the 2021-22 season. He played a total of 10 minutes and scored five points (1-for-2 from 3-point range, 1-for-3 from 2-point range. Coleman added three steals, a rebound, and three turnovers.
He focused on football from there, and it’s how he got drafted with the No. 33 overall pick at the start of the second round in 2024 by the Bills. He’s still trying to live up to that draft position.
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