ORCHARD PARK — In limited action, Keon Coleman was welcomed to the NFL by one of the top cornerbacks in the game.
The Buffalo Bills rookie receiver was matched up against Chicago Bears standout Jaylon Johnson on 15 of his 20 snaps in the 33-6 loss to open the preseason Saturday. Coleman came away with one catch for 8 yards and he wasn’t defended by Johnson on the play, but the game was always about getting Coleman acclimated to NFL speed rather than results.
Quarterback Josh Allen said after the game that the Bills weren’t using their best plays and they never aggressively targeted Coleman. But there were a few moments where Coleman showed he needed to make adjustments.
Allen targeted Coleman in the red zone on the second drive and Johnson gave him a slight nudge, which was enough to knock Coleman off course, allowing Johnson to undercut the route, turning receiver into defender to avoid an interception. On the next play, Bears cornerback Jaylon Jones gave Coleman a bump, again disrupting his route and causing an incompletion in the end zone.
“I thought he looked comfortable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said after the game. “It looked like it wasn’t too big for him. That’s part of a being a young player and adjusting. That didn’t surprise me, though, because he’s been taking things in stride that way. … Today the ball didn’t find him as much. It wasn’t really a game plan whatsoever for us, we were just out there trying to make sure that we had a chance to see where we were fundamentally and overall as a football team, and then had a chance to evaluate our personnel.”
More important than Coleman’s statistics, the Bills gave a glimpse as to how Coleman is going to be utilized this season. On 16 of his 20 plays, Coleman lined up as the X receiver or split end, which is the receiver on the line of scrimmage, a position typically given to a team’s top receiver and one vacated by Stefon Diggs.
It’s no surprise the Bills are using Coleman there, well, because general manager Brandon Beane said they would after the draft. Coleman should also see a lot of playing time this season because the Bills are light on X receivers.
The second-round pick was officially listed behind Mack Hollins on the first depth chart released by the team leading up to the game. But while the Bills are high on Hollins and he seems on track for significant playing time this year, only once has the 30-year-old been a true factor in an NFL offense — catching 57 passes for 690 yards with the Raiders in 2022 — and never cracked 300 yards in any of his other six years in the league.
Second-year receiver Tyrell Shavers played the X position with the second team during the game, and although he’s pushing for a roster spot, Shavers isn’t likely to challenge Coleman nor Hollins for snaps at this point. Chase Claypool is the other player on the roster with experience at the position, but he has missed 10 practices and the first game with a toe injury.
Epenesa shows progress as complete defensive end
When A.J. Epenesa re-signed with the Bills during the offseason, he wanted more responsibility. Thus far in training camp, and against the Bears, it appears Buffalo is going to oblige.
The 2020 second-round pick played 17 snaps against the Bears, but it was enough to show he’s capable of being more than a situational pass rusher. Nearly 62% of Epenesa’s career snaps have come on passing plays, yet he has shown some flashes against the run, making seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage in each of the last two seasons.
On the first drive, Epenesa overpowered a tight end and pushed him into Bears running back Khalil Herbert, limiting him to a 2-yard gain. On the second drive, Epenesa was firm in setting the edge, forcing Herbert to cut back inside, where Bills defenders were there to clean up the play.
Epenesa was able to do that again later in the drive, but that time he was still able to get a hand on Herbert to assist in making the tackle. He was also strong enough that Bears tight end Cole Kmet had to tug Epenesa’s jersey — no penalty was called — in order to avoid a tackle for a loss.
“The biggest thing for me was trying to take that mental step,” Epenesa said. “Physically, I know all the things that need to be done, I’ve had so many reps at it that my body knows how it’s supposed to be done. Now it’s the mental game, where I can kind of expect it before it happens. Plays by formation, like what the offense has given us, formationally, what I can and can’t get, versus those formations, things of that nature.”
Epenesa also showed he can still rush the passer, too. On the first drive, both he and fellow defensive end Greg Rousseau pushed the Chicago tackles to collapse the pocket and Rousseau drew a holding penalty as quarterback Caleb Williams tried to scramble away.
On the second drive, Epenesa bull-rushed his man to collapse the pocket again, forcing Williams to step up. Williams ran for 13 yards, but Epenesa did his job on the play.
“I still have that urgency, feeling that angst of wanting to prove myself to everybody on my team, but then I’m also in a different spot than I have been in years previous, signing a new contract and everything, and being here for so long,” said Epenesa, who had 6 ½ sacks in each of the last two seasons. “… This is just the start, and hopefully I’m going to keep taking those steps and keep getting better.”
Williams starts slow, finishes strong
Linebacker Dorian Williams had an uneven rookie season as he tried to adjust to the NFL while learning the Bills’ complex defense. There were times when he showed superb athleticism, but struggled to play in a controlled manner, making too many mistakes to be a consistent contributor when Matt Milano suffered a season-ending leg injury.
The Bills opted not to play Milano against the Bears as part of his recovery, giving Williams an opportunity to start and play the entire first half. It was a rocky start, but Williams was able to settle in as the game progressed.
On the first drive, Williams was hesitant to step into the hole on a run play and was blocked by tight end Gerald Everett 5 yards downfield. Later in the drive, Williams got preoccupied with a receiver on a crossing route in zone coverage that he was slow to react to a screen pass and was easily blocked on a 42-yard gain by running back D’Andre Swift.
Williams was also caught flat-footed in pass coverage against Everett and was whistled for illegal contact and then made a bad read as Kmet ran by him for a 26-yard gain.
But there were also some good plays, with Williams blowing up a third-down run play that allowed cornerback Rasul Douglas to drop Herbert for a 3-yard loss. He also was hesitant to fill the hole on run plays, including one in which he took on the center and allowed teammates to make the tackle.
He also atoned for his mistake on the screen play, reading it from the snap and taking away the receiver before forcing backup quarterback Tyson Bagent out of bounds for a sack. He also blitzed, shedded a block from running back Travis Homer and forced an errant throw by Bagent.
“Being out there first couple drives, you don’t quite know what this team’s going to do,” Williams said. “I mean, just getting used to it. Seeing how guys are coming off. There’s a lot of growing in the first couple drives.”