Keon Coleman dons No. 0 for the Buffalo Bills, and he'll be a zero on the field Thursday night against the Houston Texans as the team has reportedly decided to make him a healthy scratch for a second straight week. Last week's benching came as a result of Coleman being late to a team meeting, and Buffalo didn't exactly miss him as Josh Allen scored six (!) touchdowns in a double-digit win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It's been a bleak sophomore season for Coleman, the 2024 second-round pick whose 6-foot-3 frame was supposed to provide a field-stretching and red-zone threat Buffalo has sorely lacked since Stefon Diggs' departure. Rising star Ladd McConkey being selected one pick after him doesn't exactly help the optics either.
Tyrell Shavers was the primary beneficiary of Coleman's demotion, as he tallied four catches and 90 yards -- including a spectacular 43-yard touchdown -- against Tampa Bay. Still, Shavers told the Up and Adams podcast he thinks Coleman can bounce back, and is pleading for Bills fans to allow him the mental space to do so in the wake of Marshawn Kneeland's tragic suicide.
"He definitely supports me even though things aren't going his way, and I think that's just the relationship we've built over time since he's been here," Shavers said. "Even when I wasn't having these results, I was still supporting him the same way. And I think because I did that, he's doing the same for me. But that's my brother.
"He's not perfect. He is human at the end of the day. We all are human, everybody makes mistakes. He's learning from them and he's young. We gotta remember that -- he's young. Going back to the Marshawn Kneeland situation -- R.I.P. to him as well -- mental health is real. And everybody's bashing him, talking about him. I'm not saying that he's in a bad spot or anything, but also let's just remember that he's human at the same time. And he will learn from these mistakes and he will bounce back."
Coleman opened the season with an eight-catch, 112-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Baltimore Ravens but has been held below five catches and 50 yards in every game since. Here's to hoping he can get back on track.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Bills WR cited Kneeland as reminder to give Keon Coleman grace
Reporting by Wajih AlBaroudi, For The Win / For The Win
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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