In a broad sense, the Las Vegas Raiders should be open to just about anything when it comes to adding pieces around presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. On the wide receiver front, Tre Tucker is more of a supplemental piece, while Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton are promising youngsters moving toward their second season.
As other teams consider cap consequences, fit with a new coaching staff and more,, some interesting wide receiver options could land on the Raiders' radar. In the wake of firing head coach Sean McDermott, the Buffalo Bills may have dropped one right into their lap on Wednesday morning.
Wow. #Bills owner Terry Pegula says the coaching staff pushed to draft WR Keon Coleman and that was never GM Brandon Beane's top choice in that situation.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 21, 2026
"That was Brandon being a team player. ... He's taken heat over it. I'm here to tell you the true story."
Wowza. I've never… pic.twitter.com/mimTgT9zc9
Wow. That is a pretty unbelievable thing for an owner to say about a current player on the roster. The bridge for Coleman has clearly been burned in Buffalo, and the Raiders should take full advantage by lowballing them.
Raiders should easily consider taking a flier on Keon Coleman
Upon further review, it also appears general manager Brandon Beane was actually a fan of Coleman's in the pre-draft process. A video resurfaced of him being happy Coleman that ran a slow 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Combine, since it would likely drop him out of the first round conversation.
"I'm glad Coleman ran that (4.57 40). It'll help to get him" 2 months before the draft pic.twitter.com/vj18EgvqyJ
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) January 21, 2026
To say Keon Coleman has underachieved since the Bills drafted him 33rd overall in 2024 would be an understatement. This season, he was a healthy scratch for multiple games, and it appeared he wasn't meeting expectations behind the scenes.
In any case, Bills owner Terry Pegula all but declared Coleman will be gone this offseason by attempting to absolve Beane from blame for drafting him. Any trade leverage they might have had evaporated with every word Pegula spoke.
Coleman's agent might already be on the phone asking for his client to be moved in light of those comments.
He split his three college seasons between Michigan State and Florida State, with 11 touchdowns as a Seminole in 2023. Contested catches and red zone work were always going to be the core of his game in the NFL, and his aforementioned timed speed at the Combine surprised absolutely no one.
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With that in mind, Coleman's pre-draft comparisons included Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London, and former NFL wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Allen Robinson. That is pretty good company to be in, and he is still young. He can tap into that ceiling.
It's fair to say Coleman still has a bit of work to do if he's going to become a reliable NFL wide receiver, for the Bills or anyone else. But he's also just 22 years old (he'll turn 23 in May), which is younger than some incoming rookies around the league will be this year.
It's also now painfully clear, if it wasn't already before, that Coleman desperately needs a change of scenery. The Bills also seem ready to cut bait, perhaps for pennies on the trade dollar, if there's an opportunity to do so.
Plenty of teams should be ready to consider a low-risk flier on a former top-35 overall pick. But among those teams, the clearest opportunity for Coleman to resurrect his career may exist in Las Vegas.
Via a trade or possibly an eventual outright cut, the Raiders should easily have Coleman on their radar as his days in Buffalo have been confirmed to be numbered. A sixth-rounder may be enough to do the trick, and perhaps less. Las Vegas should pounce on that.