Kansas City Chiefs should sign Corey Coleman to their practice squad

The Kansas City Chiefs are no stranger to taking fliers on discarded players. The former first-round draft pick, wide receiver Corey Coleman, should be one such player that they should take a flier on.

It’s likely that most NFL fans have forgotten the name, Corey Coleman, but the Kansas City Chiefs should look into bringing him in. Before we dive more into that, let’s discuss Coleman and how he’s gotten to this point in his career.

Coming out of Baylor back in 2016, Coleman’s ability as a speedy receiver is one of the reasons why he was drafted in the first round of that year’s draft. Unfortunately for him, his career since being then hasn’t amounted to much more than being considered a draft bust. So, what has happened with Coleman over the last five seasons?

After being drafted by the Browns in 2016, Coleman saw action in 10 games as a rookie and hauled in three touchdowns and just over 400 yards receiving. That’s not terrible for a first-year guy, especially battling injuries and being on such a horrendous team.

After his sophomore season which resulted in fewer games and a little less production, Coleman’s time in Cleveland would be short-lived. He was traded to Buffalo before the 2018 season started in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick.

Getting traded from an 0-16 team would seem to indicate that the draft bust status was well on its way. Less than a month later, the Bills released Coleman, further cementing that status. After just a week-long stint with New England, the New York Giants added him to their practice squad about a month later. And that seems to be where he has hung around for the last few seasons.

Why would the Kansas City Chiefs want a former first-round player who has devolved to simply being a practice squad player?

Kansas City is equipped to potentially give Coleman a fair shot. Aside from a short stint in New England, he wasn’t on solid footing with those other three teams. He only lasted a week in New England because his roster spot was used to sign a more talented receiver in Josh Gordon.

No one should or would expect Coleman to come into Kansas City and be elevated to active status this season. Getting to know Andy Reid’s playbook can be overwhelming for any player, let alone a receiver coming in this late in the season. Brett Veach could bring him in simply to see what he looks like as a member of the practice squad for the remainder of this season. After that, who knows, maybe he will have flashed enough for the Chiefs to try and bring him back for 2021.

The benefit of that is that the Chiefs’ receiver room will be changing for 2021. Both Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson will become free agents after this season and it’s likely that Kansas City won’t look to bring either player back. Signing Coleman to the practice squad for the rest of this season essentially gives them a long tryout period to see what’s he’s capable of doing. What if he’s still capable of bringing his 4.37 40-yard speed from 2016?

With a receiver room already chalked full of burners, Coach Reid could certainly find ways to use him to open the field up even more. Also, coming into such a solid organization that knows how to succeed might bring out the best in Coleman before the lights begin to dim on his career.

Make no mistake about it, he’s still a project, even at 26 years old, but it’d definitely be a very low budget signing to the practice squad that could potentially yield some great rewards from a former first-round draft pick.