Over the past couple of days, the Buffalo Bills‘ franchise has entered levels of dysfunction rarely seen within the organization for the past decade, during which the team has seen substantial success.
On Wednesday, owner Terry Pagula pinned the pick of wide receiver, Keon Coleman – who was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, on the team’s former coach, Sean McDermott – attempting to exonerate general manager, Brandon Beane.
🎙️”The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon, I’m not saying Brandon [Beane] wouldn’t have drafted him but he wasn’t his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player”
Keon Coleman is still on the roster.. 😬😬
“I’ll address the Keon situation.” Pagula said to the media on Wednesday. “The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon, I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him but he wasn’t his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff who felt strongly about the player. And he’s taken, for some reason, heat over it and not saying a word about it. But I’m here to tell you the true story.”
Bills Video Shows Brandon Beane Excitement On Coleman
However, a video subsequently emerged on social media showing Beane excited about the prospect of Coleman running slower than expected or hoped in the 40-yard dash, as it would help the team’s chances of being able to select him when their selection arose in the draft.
After being told by Assistant General Manager Brian Gaine that Coleman had run a 4.57 second 40-yard dash, certainly on the slower end for a wideout looking to be selected in the first round of any NFL draft, Beane expressed gratitude, rather than disappointment.
“I’m glad he ran that,” Beane said at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, “It’ll help to get him”, before being reminded of the fact that fellow Bills wideout, Gabe Davis – who vastly outperformed his fourth round draft pick status – also ran a 40-yard dash in the mid-4.5s.
Beane Seemed Set On Picking Coleman On Draft Night
A second video also re-emerged on social media from Beane speaking on draft night, apparently exorbitantly excited about the prospect of selecting Coleman.
“I went to bed that night saying it’s Keon unless someone blows us away”
“Barring someone offers us something stupid. We’ll take Keon Coleman”
Sure sounds like it was HIS pick!
“Basically when I went to bed that night I was like, ‘It’s Keon unless someone [another franchise offering a trade] blows us away’. We didn’t feel anything was attractive enough for us to pass up on Keon…barring someone offering us something stupid, we’ll take Keon Coleman.”
Both of these clips seem to showcase Beane’s clear, positive feelings towards Coleman, and act as some sort of evidence against the idea that the desire to take the Florida State alum – who is still on the roster and scored a touchdown in last Saturday’s closely-fought loss against the Denver Broncos – was purely that of McDermott.
Now, two clips taken out of context does not make a cut-and-dry case that Pegula was actively lying to the media and fans about the Coleman decision, who will likely not be thrilled with the unnecessary stray thrown at him by the Bills owner.
But it certainly makes it look like the narrative put forward by Pegula is misleading and only half-truth-ed at best. Perhaps it was McDermott who put the idea of Coleman forward, but Beane certainly did not seem – at least publicly – to be against the idea of selecting him early on in the draft.
And, who knows, perhaps a much-improved year three could see his selection become feather in McDermott’s/Beane’s cap, rather than a mark on their collective record.
Bills Video Emerges Contradicting Keon Coleman Statement