Joe Brady 'Stood on the Table' for Keon Coleman, Backs Bills WR After Pegula Comments

Not everyone with the Buffalo Bills may believe in Keon Coleman, but the wide receiver can take solace knowing his new head coach does.

"I told Keon when I got hired, the best thing that happened to Keon Coleman was me being his head coach," Joe Brady said Thursday, per ESPN's Alaina Getzenberg. "I was one of the ones that stood on the table for Keon Coleman, and I believe in Keon Coleman."

Brady added during a Friday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show:

"I'm not going to let Keon Coleman fail... He's an extremely talented player and all I want is for him to be successful and you see the big play ability and the opportunities that he's had and him not playing or him not being on the field was not because of his play... We're going to do everything we can so that he can be successful."

Brady, who was Buffalo's offensive coordinator the past two years prior to becoming the head coach, called the 2025 campaign a "learning year" for Coleman and said he will remain with the team moving forward.

"He's gonna continue to grow, but the elements that we saw in the draft process—the confidence that I have in him and his ability—and as long as he's handling what he needs to do off the field, I have no doubt that he's gonna be successful on the field," Brady said.

Prior to hiring Brady and after firing former head coach Sean McDermott, team owner Terry Pegula told reporters it was the coaching staff that pushed to draft Coleman at No. 33 overall in 2024 and not general manager Brandon Beane.

Pegula said Beane was just "being a team player" with the decision to select the Florida State product and didn't value him as highly as the coaches.

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It seemed like Coleman was going to live up to expectations with a solid rookie season that saw him finish with 556 receiving yards and four touchdown catches. However, instead of taking a jump in his second year, he saw his yardage drop to 404 amid multiple healthy scratches due to coaching decisions and disciplinary reasons.

Getzenberg noted Coleman was down to sixth on the team's depth chart by the end of the 2025 campaign.

But that could change with support from both Brady and quarterback Josh Allen.

"I'm not going to give up on [Coleman]," Allen said. "He's got too much ability, and I will not give up on him. We're gonna work tirelessly, him and me, and so will everybody else in this building, to make sure that whenever we step foot on the field, that we're gonna find ways to win football games. And he's gonna be part of that."

If things go according to plan, Coleman will bounce back in 2026 and put Pegula's comments in the rearview mirror.