It did not take long for some of the things Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula said in his Wednesday press conference alongside general manager Brandon Beane to backfire.
One of the more shocking moments of the chaotic presser was Pegula interjecting an answer to a question directed at Beane about the state of the wide receiver room. Pegula defended Bean for drafting Keon Coleman because he did so under the advice of Sean McDermott’s coaching staff.
"The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon," he said. “I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him, but he was not his next choice. That was Brandon taking advice of his coaching staff, who felt strongly about the player.”
Except, video evidence from the lead-up to the 2024 NFL Draft strongly suggests that Beane was as all-in on drafting Coleman as his coaching staff was.
Terry Pegula’s explanation of the Keon Coleman decision doesn't match the evidence
Shortly after Pegula threw his 23-year-old wide receiver under the bus, X accounts began sharing video footage of Beane discussing Coleman, both at the NFL Combine and the night before Buffalo selected him with the first pick of the second round.
At the Combine, Beane expressed that it was a good thing Coleman ran a 4.57 40-yard-dash because of what it meant for his draft stock and the Bills’ chances of getting him.
“I’m glad he ran that,” Beane said. “It’ll help to get him.”
The first night of the NFL Draft, Beane looked to be satisfied with how the first round shook out, letting everyone know that they’d begin the second round the next day by selecting Coleman.
“Barring someone offering us something stupid, we’ll take Keon Coleman there,” Beane said after joking about trading back even more.
That footage was accompanied by an interview Beane had done where he explained his thought process the night before Coleman became a Bill.
“Basically, when I went to bed that night, I was like, it’s Keon unless someone just blows us away. We didn’t feel anything was attractive enough for us to pass on Keon,” he said.
Nevermind the fact that the team’s owner threw a young player currently on his roster under the bus so publicly, clearly, Coleman being drafted by the Bills wasn’t solely a McDermott and staff decision. And even if it was, Beane signed off on it and put it into motion, so he isn’t absolved from the failures of that decision.
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That said, while Coleman’s sophomore season wasn’t great, he caught more passes on just two more targets than he got as a rookie, and scored four times, matching his rookie total. His potential is still there; the guy just needs guidance in being a professional, time and patience.
That said, just like any other player, he doesn’t need to be acknowledged as a failure in any capacity by the team that employs him, especially if there’s evidence against the things said in that instance, ready to be published on the internet.