Camp observations: Keon Coleman embraces moving around Bills' offensive formation
Through three days of training camp, the Buffalo Bills' 6-foot-3 rookie receiver, Keon Coleman, has not solely locked into the X-WR position, on the wide side of the field, opposite the tight end on the formation. He also got some snaps and catches from the slot position Thursday, and he got a...
Keon Coleman was drafted to be a big, outside-the-numbers receiving threat for the Buffalo Bills.
Yet through three days of training camp, the 6-foot-3 rookie has not solely locked into the X-WR position, on the wide side of the field, opposite the tight end on the formation.
Coleman has been there a lot. But he also got some snaps and catches from the slot position Thursday, and he got a couple of snaps on plays from an inside position and the flanker spot Friday.
“I’m used to playing everything,” Coleman said after Friday’s session at St. John Fisher University. “There’s no such thing as an X or Y or Z. You’ve got to get open. You’re called a receiver, not a ‘whatever’ receiver. It’s hard to learn the playbook just trying to learn one position because you can easily be on the other side of the field, in the slot, outside, inside. You could be motioning to it. Different things. So I learn the playbook conceptually. I learn concept by concept and learn every single spot.
Bills receiver Keon Coleman makes a catch during Friday’s training camp practice. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
The Bills will need Coleman to win on typical X-WR routes, fade passes up the sideline, back-shoulder throws to the boundary, post routes and comebacks. It is intriguing to see him use his big body on in-breaking routes from a tighter position or to use his size blocking, as Gabe Davis did, when lined up tighter to the line of scrimmage.
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady stressed the Bills are not limiting Coleman’s role to simplify his learning curve.
“We don’t have positions,” Brady said. “The way that we taught the offense, we just taught everything conceptually. These are three-man concepts, these are two-man concepts, these are full-field progressions. And so, if I asked the guy, ‘Hey, what do you have on this play?’ That should be ... ‘Well, what’s the formation, what position am I playing on that play?’ Not like, ‘Hey, I’m the X, so I have this.’
“And so it really forces the guys to understand on any given moment, you can be on any of these spots and we got to know it. And, we can change the formation and move it around. So that was a big thing, a big point of emphasis. I don’t want the guys memorizing a play and what they have that specific route. They gotta know it all.”
A basic two-man concept to one side might be an 18-yard corner route to the sideline with a 10-yard out underneath. A basic three-man concept is the outside receiver running deep, the slot receiver running an out to the sideline and the tight end or running back running to the flat.
Coleman has had a solid first three days. He has had catches on a variety of routes – boundary throws, in-breakers, crossers. He got wide open on a slot fade in 7-on-7 work against Rasul Douglas on Friday.
Three straight INTs
It was a rarity that camp had lasted almost three full days without an interception.Then Josh Allen threw three in a row near the end Friday. The first came on a deep corner route to the left sideline for Mack Hollins, but safety Taylor Rapp read it and made a nice play to cut in front for the interception.
The next pass attempt was a deep post for Marquez Valdes-Scantling. It was one of those shots on which the secondary was protecting deep, and it should have been checked down if it were a real game. Allen heaved it anyway, and cornerback Christian Benford, who had it covered all the way, picked it off.
On the next play, there was some kind of miscommunication between Allen and either Coleman or Khalil Shakir on an in-breaking pass. Neither receiver was in the path of the ball, and Kaiir Elam read the pass and picked it off. That probably was not Allen’s fault.
Allen’s two best throws were a bullet to Dalton Kincaid for 20-plus yards on a third-down play and a 20-yard crosser to Hollins on a third down.
Defensive line wins
The starting defensive line caused havoc for much of practice.Greg Rousseau stuffed an early run by Ty Johnson, had two bat-downs at the line of scrimmage and blew up a play-action pass play. Ed Oliver stuffed Allen in the backfield, then had a bat-down, then beat David Edwards for a pressure to force an incompletion. Von Miller beat Dawson Knox to help foul up a screen pass. Dawuane Smoot got pressure vs. O’Cyrus Torrence on a deep ball that safety Mike Edwards almost intercepted.
Meanwhile, DeWayne Carter flashed in pass-rushing a second straight day. He beat Kevin Jarvis for a sack.
Sideline views
Rookie second-round pick Cole Bishop got his shot to pair with Rapp on the starting defensive unit all day.Sam Martin and Jack Browning each had seven punts in a special-teams segment, and it was an unspectacular session. Martin had good direction on his kicks, but the hang times weren’t great until he uncorked a 4.59-second boomer on his final full-field punt. (A hang time of 4.50 or better is very good.) Browning, the rookie, had three good hang times on full-field punts to end his turn (4.79, 5.18 and 4.51, unofficially).
It’s hard to call it a competition between the two unless they start letting Browning hold for field-goal tries. Tyler Bass went 6 for 6 on field goals, the longest from 50 yards, all with Martin holding.
There’s a lot of rotation among the backup offensive line units. The second team usually was, left to right, Ryan Van Demark, Will Clapp or Tylan Grable, Alec Anderson, Kevin Jarvis or Clapp, and La’el Collins. Travis Clayton, the ex-rugby player from England, usually was the third-team right tackle. Interior lineman Mike Edwards left practice to go inside with trainers. ... Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson, a 2000 Olympic champion, watched practice. So did St. Bonaventure basketball coach Mark Schmidt.