Coleman shines bright while other rookies jockey for active status
The Buffalo Bills put themselves into a hole on Sunday afternoon for the opening game of the regular season at Highmark Stadium — coming out of the gates slow and down 17-3. For that, the team had to come back 14 down early on the back of star quarterback Josh Allen to eventually win 34-28. It was an impressive showing of composure for a veteran team that should have been able to handle a young, partially revamped Cardinals team Week 1.
A 53-man roster requires some tough decisions on inactives for game days. A couple of Bills rookies were on that list Sunday as well. But despite a limited amount of rookies getting run for the team on Sunday afternoon, some still were active and reflected as a testament to their current standing with the team.
Let’s talk about rookies that played (and didn’t), how much they played, and the quality of such performance for each rookie on the Bills’ roster.
WR Keon Coleman
The Bills’ first selection in the 2024 NFL Draft was the team’s leading receiver on Sunday with 51 yards on four grabs. Additionally, he led all Bills receivers with 45 out of a possible 62 offensive snaps. It’s clear the team has trust in Coleman to produce early and often in the offense. That kind of playing time from Week 1 is a very positive sign.
Coleman had one of the plays of the day for a Bills player outside of Allen on the day with a fantastic box-out of the corner he was lined up against on a fade route. That’s exactly what the Bills drafted him for and it was in a huge moment. The Bills had 2nd & Long a third of the way through the fourth quarter looking to try and put the game on ice. The catch of 28 put the Bills in goal-to-go on a key play that eventually led to a touchdown.
Cole flashed good hands and some yards after catch as well. Overall, Coleman looked good in his NFL debut which is a positive. The book is yet to be written on what he eventually becomes, but it’s stock up thus far and the receptions being exactly what you thought you’d get from him.
KEON. COLEMAN.
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 8, 2024
: @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/lQWF6PXCRu
S Cole Bishop
Bishop was on the team’s first inactive list despite being healthy now from his preseason shoulder injury. Bishop has not had long to rev up to this first game, and the Bills do now have some healthy safety depth that they can utilize while they get him up to speed. It’s disappointing to not see Bishop active in this game, but it’s a simple explanation given the length of his injury as a rookie.
We will hope to see more of Bishop soon as he’s a general unknown amongst the roster for 2024 because of the lack of public eye to his play in an NFL uniform.
DT DeWayne Carter
Carter was active in this game and played seven out of a possible 61 snaps on defense. The Bills elected to go with less defensive tackle rotation in this game, which differs from past usages of McDermott defensive lines. Carter was a non-factor in this game and didn’t register a stat in the box score. It wasn’t a very encouraging preseason for Carter and it was even more discouraging to see him garner only seven snaps on the afternoon for a team that’s begging for a quality depth player to step up in that room. Carter has work to do in his development to be a meaningful player in 2024.
RB Ray Davis
It was disappointing to see Ty Johnson be the first back to trot out to spell James Cook, but that’s exactly what happened. Davis only had six total snaps on offense on the day. On those six snaps, Davis touched the ball 4 times (3 rush; 1 reception) for 27 total yards. Davis looks impactful, and you’d hope to see more of him moving forward as a rookie bringing juice. Johnson is fine, but he’s a known commodity with just fine ability as a rotational running back. Davis’ juice is noticeably different from Johnson when they touch the football.
IOL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger
Van Pran-Granger was one of the inactives for the Bills for Week 1. He ran most of the preseason with the third-team offense before briefly getting opportunity with the second team later on in the exhibition performances. While he has looked good as a center, it remains to be seen if he has the proper versatility to play guard. If Van Pran-Granger doesn’t show the ability to play guard, it’s likely he continues to be inactive throughout the season (barring injury) due to his lack of positional versatility.
LB Edefuan Ulofoshio
Despite the long-term injury to star linebacker Matt Milano, the Bills do have a good bit of linebacker depth at their disposal. Ulofoshio was another player who picked up an injury to miss some time during preseason. He earned a healthy inactive nod in this game. We’ll see if he can earn his way to some active statuses as a special teamer. It’s hard to envision him having a defensive role in 2024, again, barring injury.
EDGE Javon Solomon
There likely was a real chance Javon Solomon would have been active on game day if he were healthy. The problem for Solomon, however, is that he’s currently nursing an oblique injury that held him out this past week. He’s currently day-to-day. With the team on a short week, it’s fair to question whether Solomon is cleared for play by Thursday night’s game. Solomon looked genuinely good as a special teams asset in preseason, and the pass-rushing juice seems real.
OL Tylan Grable
It was extremely notable that Grable got the nod as an active player over Ryan Van Demark. Van Demark was considered the likely swing tackle heading into training camp with Grable being a developmental late-round project. Van Demark has had three years in the system with Grable in his first. But Grable gets the nod. Of course, no injuries occurred on the offensive line so Grable wasn’t forced into action. But he was active, which means the Bills would trust him to go into the game and play competently well in an NFL regular-season matchup if an injury did occur.
CB/Returner Daequan Hardy
The seventh-round draft pick is currently on the Bills’ practice squad. He wasn’t elevated from the practice squad for the game on Sunday.
OL Travis Clayton
Clayton, an International Pathway player, is on season-ending Injured Reserve and will not be a factor at all for the Bills in 2024.
LB Joe Andreessen
Andreessen made the 53-man roster, which is an impressive feat for someone who was in on a minicamp tryout back in the spring. He was inactive for this game on Sunday, which isn’t surprising considering the depth at the position as mentioned earlier.
CB/Returner Brandon Codrington
The Bills traded for Codrington as preseason wrapped up and he performed well in his first action as a returner. Codrington had a 53-yard kickoff return in the game. He did a very nice job attacking the ball, choosing a lane, and getting downhill to maximize his yardage gained. He also had a seven-yard punt return as well where it looked like he may have been able to gain more had he been more committal. Codrington showed well in his first action.