How rookie WR Keon Coleman is learning the Bills’ ‘different’ offensive playbook

The life of an NFL rookie is a whirlwind; From the details of learning a new playbook to bigger-picture changes like learning a host of new faces and a whole new region of the country, the weeks immediately following a prospect’s selection are a time of great change.

And to weather the storm, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman is relying on something familiar.

He relies on his previously established techniques to learn his new team’s offensive playbook, internalizing the philosophy using the same methods he used to understand the Michigan State and Florida State playbooks. Although he described Buffalo’s offensive playbook as “very different” from the Seminoles’ (saying it’s more akin to Michigan State’s), he admitted that football, ultimately, is football ; differences from one playbook to another are more often manifested by variations in terminology rather than variations in concepts.

“It went pretty well.” Coleman told local media after Friday’s rookie minicamp practice. “(Wide receivers) coach (Adam) Henry, he helped me a lot, we zoomed in last week and just broke it down into pieces (to) understand the terminology, and in each play, what ‘they’ I’m trying to do it, what are the readings.

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“It makes it very, very simple because there are only so many concepts you can execute, it’s just the terminology. Once you understand that, there will be a lot going on, but you will be able to adapt.

He takes a multimedia approach to learning the plays themselves, drawing them after watching them on film to better understand. It’s a skill he developed midway through his freshman year in East Lansing, paving the way for his sophomore campaign in which he caught 58 passes for 798 yards and seven touchdowns.

“With the film, with the plays, with the lines and all that, it’s plays, live images behind it on your tablet, I like to draw it, take notes, draw it, and then continue to do it on whiteboards and then I question myself,” Coleman said. “That’s probably my favorite way to do it.”

His already blossoming relationship with offensive coordinator Joe Brady contributes to Coleman’s internalization of the playbook; the rookie previously said he had a “great relationship” with his interviewer, with their bond rooted through their shared ties to Louisiana (Coleman was born and raised in Opelousas, LA while Brady coached for the Saints of New Orleans from 2017. –2018 and for the LSU Tigers in 2019). This is a promising sign for Coleman’s likely important immediate offensive role; The 20-year-old, who threw 11 touchdowns for Florida State last year, projects as Buffalo’s primary “X” or boundary wide receiver.