During a Wednesday press conference to discuss the firing of Sean McDermott, Bills General Manager Brandon Beane was asked a question about the perception that he has not done enough to provide the team with talent at the wide receiver position.
The question included a mention of 2024 second-round pick Keon Coleman, who has failed to develop into a consistent threat and found himself benched at times for disciplinary reasons over his first two seasons. Before Beane could answer, Bills owner Terry Pegula cut him off and provided an answer one rarely hears in those types of settings.
“Can I interrupt? I’ll address the Keon situation,” Pegula said. “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 this coaching staff who felt strongly about the player. 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.”
Beane’s own answer touched on changing offensive approaches based on how defenses guarded them and the need to allocate resources differently once Josh Allen’s contract went to the top of the market. Beane pointed to building an offensive line to protect Allen and has also helped James Cook become one of the league’s leading rushers, but did not directly address Pegula’s comments about the Coleman pick.
Coleman remains under contract for two more years in Buffalo, but the nature of Pegula’s answer would make it unsurprising to learn that the Bills will move on without him once they find their next head coach.
