Fact vs Fiction: "Keon Coleman is not a separator"

[sven233]

The problem is, if he struggled to separate in college at times, it's only going to be tougher on him in the NFL where virtually every starting DB is better than he faced in college.  It's one of the reasons I didn't have him projected as a 2nd rounder.  Yes, he has some great qualities and will for sure make some plays for us, but if you are expecting him to all of a sudden be a WR1, I think you will be disappointed.  His lack of separation ability is why you don't see a ton of games with high volume catches.  He has some great stat lines, but many games it's 5-6 catches.  You will see the outliers here and there, but to those expecting him to be a 8-9 catches per game guy are going to be disappointed most weeks.

 

Now, I will say coaching and scheme can help him.  Find ways to get him one on one matchups and use his frame to shield off defenders.  Find a couple ways to scheme him open.  For the love of God, put slant passes back into our playbook!  There are things the coaches can do to help him.  But if you are planning on just throwing him out there and tell him to win, it's going to be tough.

Edited April 28 by sven233

[strive_for_five_guy]

Josh going to make this guy look like Eric Moulds.  And Coleman leaps over guys like Josh too.

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 minute ago, VW82 said:

I always have to laugh when defenses play zone vs us. Josh excels vs zone. Diggs and Beasley were always so good finding soft spots. Kincaid is obviously really good vs zone. Anyone dumb enough to try and zone us deserves what they get.

To be fair sometimes it's a double edge sword. Play zone and Josh can find the soft spot....but everyone on defense is facing the QB and can react if Allen runs.

 

Play man and most of your defense turns to run with their guy and no one has eyes on Allen...and he bucks for 20 yards. Pick your poison.

[TH3]

3 hours ago, ShakAttack said:

Sorry if this was already posted, but here is a good video.  While it does confirm that Coleman struggles with separation on deep routes, you can see him doing very well in creating separation on other routes. 

 

 

 

The film of his struggles to separate vertically starts around 6:20.

 

After that, you will see some impressive route running in which Coleman is successful in separating from DBs.

 

Enjoy.

 

He was nfl open all day.  He is gonna have to get used to turning and seeing the ball about 10 feet from his face

[Billzgobowlin]

The biggest thing right now is he doesn't drop the ball.  He obviously is not a field stretcher 

[UmbrellaMan]

Keon Coleman is a total bust as a top WR. As a big FSU fan, I’ve watched almost every snap this guy played. I just can’t believe the Bills organization gave up Pearsall or Legette to settle for Keon. I’m blown away the scouting department could be so off. Just terrible asset management.

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, UmbrellaMan said:

Keon Coleman is a total bust as a top WR. As a big FSU fan, I’ve watched almost every snap this guy played. I just can’t believe the Bills organization gave up Pearsall or Legette to settle for Keon. I’m blown away the scouting department could be so off. Just terrible asset management.

Ok......damn it. I'll send the jersey back. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

2 hours ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

Coleman was completely blanketed.

 

Gabe Davis could at least get open on deep routes

Davis with his massive 4.54 40 🙄

[BullBuchanan]

I feel like they've been chasing this guy since McD got here. They just want rookie Kelvin Benjamin.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

35 minutes ago, VW82 said:

I always have to laugh when defenses play zone vs us. Josh excels vs zone. Diggs and Beasley were always so good finding soft spots. Kincaid is obviously really good vs zone. Anyone dumb enough to try and zone us deserves what they get.

 

I will say that I’m interested in Coleman’s blocking. He’s a big dude and could really help there if he’s committed to it.

They play zone because that let's the dbs look at Josh. If they play man and turn away from Josh he runs for huge gains.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

3 hours ago, amprov56 said:

Why am I not surprised

Did you see something different? 

I didn't say he could not be good. 

The fact he can run all routes will open things up for him. They have to respect the short middle and deep throws inside and out.

Davis was either not good or not utilized on short throws. DBs didn't have to play him up tight. They almost never ran slant patterns to Davis. But he did run many corners and posts. 

Coleman should be able to do most of what Davis did and a few other things. 

[harmonkillebrew]

3 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

If this was meant to make me feel better um it didn't. Watching college level DBs turn and run with him with ease is frightening. He looks so slow on go routes.

I don't think that is where he will excel in the NFL.  

Hopefully his go to route will be the 15-20 yard cross and out. That was a Davis staple and one of his drops last season that ended up as an Allen INT. 

It's definitely not. That part of our game is gone.

We are a full ball control, plod down the field team now, unless Cook or Samuel break one.

That video confirmed what I've been saying. He gets no separation on the outside on deep/intermediate.  But he will be good in the big slot role getting short area separation while out-muscling smaller slot CBs.  He's not your classic #1.  

[Buddy Hix]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

From what I can gather, he wasn't always put in positions to succeed there. They were running screens with him. Like, what? Also throwing prayers up to him when double or triple covered or when the defender has established leverage. There were consistently under thrown balls to him, causing more contested catch situations than needed (and having to wait for a ball and the defender getting back in the play makes it harder for a receiver than just a normal 50/50 ball).

 

I actually think he might do much better in the pros with a much better QB throwing to him and not being the focal point of the offense. Of course, he'll also be going up against better talent, but I expect he will be used more appropriately than he was in college.

Well yeah, why was he running go routes all the time? I think he was mismanaged in college. They had him doing everything, including a lot of things that played to his weaknesses, not strengths.

He’s going to be put out wide in Buffalo, when he looks like he’d be more successful as a slot guy. So it might be the same story here.

[DJB]

Watch all his targets. He can’t separate. He consistently has a DB all over him unless it’s a coverage breakdown . 
 

For a guy that is touted as a 50/50 guy he sure doesn’t come down with a lot of balls 

Edited April 28 by DJB

[amprov56]

21 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Did you see something different? 

I didn't say he could not be good. 

The fact he can run all routes will open things up for him. They have to respect the short middle and deep throws inside and out.

Davis was either not good or not utilized on short throws. DBs didn't have to play him up tight. They almost never ran slant patterns to Davis. But he did run many corners and posts. 

Coleman should be able to do most of what Davis did and a few other things. 

If a negative spin can be put on anything related to the Bills, you provide it; not angry just find your posts predictable and amusing! 

26 minutes ago, harmonkillebrew said:

It's definitely not. That part of our game is gone.

We are a full ball control, plod down the field team now, unless Cook or Samuel break one.

That video confirmed what I've been saying. He gets no separation on the outside on deep/intermediate.  But he will be good in the big slot role getting short area separation while out-muscling smaller slot CBs.  He's not your classic #1.  

Fire everybody

[goldenboy81]

14 minutes ago, DJB said:

Watch all his targets. He can’t separate. He consistently has a DB all over him unless it’s a coverage breakdown . 
 

For a guy that is touted as a 50/50 guy he sure doesn’t come down with a lot of balls 

Idk after watching most of this video, I'm actually liking the pick more now

[akcash]

3 hours ago, HOUSE said:

 

Coleman is a slacker, just like his old man

 

 

The school burned down 10 years ago. Now you got 3 seconds to get off my porch.

[gonzo1105]

4 hours ago, MJS said:

From what I can gather, he wasn't always put in positions to succeed there. They were running screens with him. Like, what? Also throwing prayers up to him when double or triple covered or when the defender has established leverage. There were consistently under thrown balls to him, causing more contested catch situations than needed (and having to wait for a ball and the defender getting back in the play makes it harder for a receiver than just a normal 50/50 ball).

 

I actually think he might do much better in the pros with a much better QB throwing to him and not being the focal point of the offense. Of course, he'll also be going up against better talent, but I expect he will be used more appropriately than he was in college.

Well yeah, why was he running go routes all the time? I think he was mismanaged in college. They had him doing everything, including a lot of things that played to his weaknesses, not strengths.

This is what I was saying about him pre draft , FSU relied on basically a jump ball offense and very rarely threw anything but a screen or go ball to him. I think he is capable of way more than that when people talk about his lack of route tree it’s just he wasn’t asked to

 

Told everyone that every defense in the country is going to see that on tape and adjust to it causing a lack of separation. 
 

Look at the LSU TD he wins in contested fashion in the opener over Major Burns. Any NFL team would have adjusted as Burns is literally 12 yards off Coleman but they still throw it up to him for the TD instead of adjusting to a slant 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

I feel like they've been chasing this guy since McD got here. They just want rookie Kelvin Benjamin.

Benjamin had over 1000 yards his rookie year…so I would guess they would take that.

 

[NewEra]

Good post.  I was thinking the same thing.  He ran a ton of go routes that require you to have the explosiveness to get over the top.  He doesn’t have that explosiveness.  Hence, he could never get separation on them.  I didn’t like the way FSU deployed him and I think that had an impact on how he’s viewed.