DCOrange

Yes, everyone knows the Panthers are the org that everyone wants to model themselves after, good call.

I think Hunter is in for a big second half of the year. They were literally just using him as a decoy most of the season so far. It's been so odd. Couple that with the rest of the receivers being the worst in the league so far and a million penalties and yeah...it's been a mess.

I would guess it's like a "sure if someone will offer a 1st and 3rd or multiple 1sts we'll think about it" kinda thing. I highly doubt they're thinking "He stinks this year...if we can get a 4th for him we should get out while we can".

Couple bad drops is really selling it short. He has the lowest true catch rate in the league by a country mile. Like even Dawson Knox, who generally has had the biggest drop issues in the league since getting drafted, has never approached a number in Brian Thomas's vicinity.

He has legitimately been the worst WR in the NFL to receive legitimate snaps this season but I would be more than happy to hope a change in scenery gets him back on track after what he showed at LSU and as a rookie. Really confusing sophomore season so far though. I've watched every Jags game...words can't really describe how bad he's been.

To the first point, I do wonder if they've been more strict with Coleman than they would be with some other guys because they view him as such an important potential building block that they have to get right. Probably wishful thinking on my part but it is a thing I wonder a little about. To the latter, I think I've mentioned it here before, but yeah, I really wish we had double dipped in 2024 (though I'm not sure my preferred choice, Troy Franklin, would have been meaningfully better at this point and my second choice, Javon Baker, obviously would not have been). I personally did not like the 2025 class very much, though I did think Elic Ayomanor would have been a nice fit for us. We did obviously trade for Amari last season, which was considered a blockbuster as far as in-season trades go and Palmer and Samuel have been our two biggest free agent signings of the past two seasons I believe. I don't think we've ignored the position as much as we have with the safety spot for example. But at the end of the day, facts are facts: we have 3 guys on the roster right now that are capable of lining up outside and none of them are actually good.

I think it would probably make sense for Josh to have liked Keon (and to be fair, it does seem like Josh pays more attention than most NFL players to the draft), but I also agree that it's not like Josh was going to publicly come out and be like "Yeah, I really hated Coleman as a prospect, but it's the best we could muster. We'll see I guess."

Yeah, part of the issue for us in that draft is once you got past what was IMO a very clear top 4 WR prospects, nobody fit really neatly into the X role, especially if you look at the position in a more traditional way as I think Beane tends to do. Was basically Coleman (I know the arguments that he'd be more successful in the slot too, but he undoubtedly has the sort of frame that traditionalists target for the X role), Mitchell, Legette, maybe Polk. Other potential X's would be Jermaine Burton, Javon Baker, and Troy Franklin, but none of them ultimately got taken that early in the draft. If our plan the whole time was to grab an X and give them essentially zero competition for snaps, I don't really understand how we weren't more desperate to trade up for one of the top 4.

This is the really disappointing part to me. In college, his film was littered with examples of him playing hard, bullying guys as a run blocker (not to mention the low-percentage highlight reel catches). I think the staff likely saw a lot of Josh in him: a guy that the metrics hated, but a guy with physical traits that couldn't be taught and a mean-streak on the field that would ultimately lead to him maximizing his potential. He has simply not been that guy in the NFL; I tend to be pretty harsh on Beane but I don't think there's any chance he would have drafted Coleman if he had any inkling he'd be a guy that we have to discipline for being late, not trying hard enough, etc.

Yeah I think this is pretty fair. In the same boat as you, I liked a bunch of the other prospects as well, but I was definitely happy to have Coleman. My hope was that, early on, he could be sort of the break glass in case of emergency type of guy; not the primary read but when plays break down, he can win a 50-50 ball for you. And that he'd just work his ass off and eventually become more than just that. I could nitpick with you a little and say that I do think he's improved from year 1 to year 2 skill-wise (ex: think he's been much better with his releases against press coverage this season), but there's no denying that it hasn't translated into more production. Could also nitpick a little bit that I just don't think Josh has generally thrown the types of passes to Keon that take advantage of the skills that he does possess (the whole point of trusting him to win 50-50 balls is to give him a chance to go up and catch it where DBs can't reach the ball and Josh just doesn't throw the ball that way for whatever reason). But ultimately, the production is what it is. Like you said, it's not like a Skyy Moore situation where he's unplayable but he's at best an okay WR3 right now, and with our roster being what it is, where him, Palmer, and Shavers are the only guys capable of lining up out wide, we're in a bad situation here because our roster essentially necessitates him playing the # of snaps reserved for a WR1 even though he's nowhere remotely close to that caliber right now.

I wouldn't say meaningless, but yeah, everyone knew Coleman's metrics were terrible in college; the idea was that he could turn into a difference maker despite not being one in the moment. These are the same types of charts that everyone used to argue that Josh Allen shouldn't have been anywhere near the first round. Would also point out Xavier Worthy and Jalen McMillan, two guys that people have argued we should have drafted, are also in the bottom left corner with Keon.

Yep, unfortunately without bringing in new talent, Coleman has to be on the field a lot by default. That doesn't mean he has to be our primary target though. Granted his first read target share isn't high relative to most teams' leaders out there, but almost 28% of his targets come as the first read on a given play (23rd in the league). Shakir is #2 on the team at ~20% and then Palmer/Kincaid are both ~15%. That can, and should, be changed IMO.

I would gladly take him if Baltimore is really considering it but I'm skeptical that's the case. I do think Bateman is pretty good though and would likely be our best WR.

I mean, yeah, a well thrown ball helps any WR. That's not unique to Coleman. Having a size/athleticism mismatch and then throwing a ball that negates that mismatch is bad.

I don't think a fade to Coleman should be the primary read, but if nobody else is open and Coleman is 1 on 1, I would probably rather take my chances throwing a jump ball to him than forcing the ball to a smaller well-covered WR. For whatever reason, most times when we've tried to do this, Josh ends up throwing it low into Coleman's chest instead of giving Coleman a chance to play to his strengths. Just seems like the chemistry isn't there in Year 2, which is pretty concerning. The other issue is with our current roster, he basically has to lead the WRs in snaps by default. We have 3 guys capable of lining up out wide, 1 of whom is even less proven/promising than Coleman. So unless we're in a 1 WR set, chances are he's going to be on the field. Can't really take him off the field unless we get a new WR (which may just be Gabe at some point). Building a WR room around a young, raw kid with no alternative to him is just a failure on Beane's part.