Detailing what makes Keon Coleman an 'enigma' as a wide receiver

Keon Coleman routinely made jaw-dropping plays during his college career.

Over the past two seasons — one at Florida State and one at Michigan State — Coleman caught 108 passes for 1,456 yards and 18 scores, playing a big role in FSU finishing the regular season undefeated in 2023.

On the surface, it seems as though Keon Coleman has the skillset to be a star at the next level. However, PFF lead NFL Draft analyst Trevor Sikkema has some concerns.

Sikkeman joined On3’s Andy Staples recently and shared that one of the biggest potential issues he sees is the way Coleman ran at the combine, posting a 40 time of 4.61 seconds.

“Keon’s an enigma to me,” Sikkema said. “I feel like he should’ve tested well. … He’s a crazy athlete. That’s the mind boggling thing is he runs a 4.61 at the combine, and yet when he was going through the wide receiver gauntlet drills at the combine, he had the fastest in-drill speed.

“So he was the slowest guy at the 40, and then when it came to the actual receiver drills, he was the fastest guy. Where is the middle ground?”

Playing fast with pads on is obviously more important than your 40 time, but it’s fair to question Coleman’s top-end speed based on his performance at the combine. It’s also not as if Coleman had one bad day running.

Keon Coleman could have opted to run the 40 again at FSU’s pro day, but he didn’t, implying that he was good with a 4.61.

“Then he goes to his pro day – a 4.61 as a wide receiver, especially one that’s supposed to be as explosive as he is… OK, you’ve gotta run faster than a 4.61,” Sikkema explained. “We get to Florida State’s pro day, he doesn’t run. He stands on his 4.61 that he ran in Indianapolis. It’s like, ‘What? How are we here?’”

Sikkema also has concerns about Coleman’s ability to create separation in the NFL as it is something he struggled with in college.

“His separation scores are terrible,” Sikkema said. “I mean he is never creating a separation throwing window for his quarterback – almost never.”

Still, you can’t argue with the production. Keon Coleman has great body control and hands, can make people miss in the open field and was dominant at times in college.

Yes, there are concerns about his top-end speed and ability to create separation, but there is also plenty to like about the 6-foot-4 wideout. That’s what makes it so hard to project his future at the next level.

“This is somebody who, after the catch, we watch him have all sorts of flexibility and agility and wiggle,” Sikkema said. “They throw a wide receiver screen to him, he becomes a backyard playmaker. They put this guy on punt return, for goodness sake, because of how much of a playmaker he is and how much he can make guys miss in space and show you those juke moves and that flexibility.

“And yet he can’t separate when he’s running his routes. Make it make sense – I can’t. So that’s why it’s just so strange to watch him play and then project what’s exactly going to show up at the NFL level.”