Keon Coleman 2024 NFL Draft Profile
Not even going to bury the lede on this one. Keon Coleman is a player I’m really excited to talk about. Mostly because this is a player that seems to have a wider range of outcomes and the investigative cap will be needed for this one. We’re going over everything Keon Coleman related in this edition of the 2024 NFL Draft Profile series!
Before I even begin, we have to talk about the basketball background. Coleman didn’t just play basketball as a secondary sport. He was damn good at it and was getting serious minutes at Michigan State. That’s nothing to sneeze at based on the program that we know Tom Izzo has built. Okay, maybe serious minutes is a stretch but he appeared in six games for the Spartans and was very much an active member of the team while playing football. Not an easy thing to do.
That’s why I think Coleman has such room to grow. You know, when he’s only focusing on football. He’s a lump of clay that’s raw but will get better. Coleman also has a track and field background. As we saw at the Combine, his play speed is much better than his straight line speed. Ran a 4.61 at the Combine but had the single fastest speed during the gauntlet and executed it perfectly. Play speed is far more important. We know pure 40 times historically have been overrated at this position.
Has a few moments where the drops get him. I think that’s probably the most frustrating part about Coleman because he has the potential to dominate. Former four star recruit from the state of Louisiana. Started out at Michigan State but finished his final season at Florida State. Was teammates with Jayden Reed with the Spartans. We’ve seen how good Reed has been since being drafted with the Packers. Coleman was the better player in 2022 and had more receiving yards and touchdowns.
Coleman also has the size you want for the position. 6-foot-3, 213, and over 32 inch arms. Leaping numbers were really good, which shouldn’t be surprising given the basketball background (38 in the vert and 10’7″ broad). Going to be a damn weapon in the red area. Think I trust him on a 50-50 ball more than any player not named Marv in the draft class. We saw that all year. Won the game for them against Clemson because they couldn’t cover him in the end zone. Made LSU look like little girls too.
Just needs to further refine his game. Polish the route running stuff. Clean up the dumb drops. Get a little stronger and beat press. All things that will come with time. He’s already big and physically imposing. When he becomes strong, strong… he’s going to be a problem.
I really like the player. I wouldn’t count on him dropping big numbers as a rookie but think he will develop into a really high end quality starter. In a perfect world, this is a player I can pluck in the second round knowing I have a dawg in year two of the rookie contract. That draft class where Deebo, AJ Brown, and DK Metcalf all went in round two. That’s ideally what I want to happen with Coleman if I’m a team. Different skill set but a pure talent that should eventually work at the NFL level.
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