The Buffalo Bills are expected to bench wide receiver Keon Coleman for the second straight week on Thursday night, Cover 1 reported.
A second-round pick (33rd overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft, Coleman was a surprise inactive for last Sunday’s 44-32 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cover 1 reported that Coleman was going to miss that game as well.
The benching will carry over to Thursday’s prime-time Week 12 meeting between the Bills (7-3) and the host Houston Texans (5-5), per the report.
Multiple reports said Coleman, 22, was punished for being late to a team meeting on the Friday before that game.
“That was my decision,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said after Sunday’s game. “It is disappointing, but I still believe in the young man … I try and give the guys a kind of a strike approach, ‘Hey, you get a chance to show your teammates that’s not really who you are.’ When it happens again, then I step in. I believe he will learn from it. He takes it seriously. He will move forward in a way of growing from this, and that’s the whole goal.”
Expected to compete for the No. 1 receiver role this season, Coleman opened with eight catches for 112 yards and a touchdown in the Week 1 win against the Baltimore Ravens.
Since then, he has not topped 50 yards or caught more than four passes in his last eight contests. He ranks second on the Bills in catches (32), third in receiving yards (330) and tied for second in TDs (three).
Coleman caught 29 passes for 556 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games (12 starts) during his 2024 rookie season.
