Shortly after Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula parted ways with head coach Sean McDermott, Pegula stunned members of the NFL community when he said during a news conference that McDermott’s staff and not Bills general manager/president of football operations Brandon Beane was responsible for the club selecting wide receiver Keon Coleman with the No. 33 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
For a piece published on Thursday, Elise Devlin of The Athletic reached out to former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban about Pegula’s controversial comments.
Mark Cuban defends Terry Pegula over Keon Coleman comments
“I’m fine with it,” Cuban responded. “I could see doing the same thing because I know that the media and fans would hold that pick over the GM’s head. By clarifying what happened, he reduced the stress.”
While Coleman tallied eight touchdown catches across the first 26 regular-season games of his career, he has also been responsible for more disciplinary actions and headaches than many coaching staffs would want to tolerate. Some assumed Pegula essentially sparked the beginning of the end of Coleman’s Buffalo tenure via the news conference, but Coleman has since made it known he “has not requested a trade and is proceeding as though he will play for the Bills in 2026.”
“I think that’s smart,” Cuban added about Pegula’s comments. “I’ll have a discussion with the media and let them know what is going on, or if it was continuous negative press about one of our players that I wanted to end, I would do something to get fined.”
Bill Polian disagrees with Mark Cuban
Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian has had his name mentioned in headlines as of late for reasons that have nothing to do with the Bills. That said, Polian indicated that Pegula shouldn’t have spoken in-depth about what may or may not have happened regarding the drafting of Coleman.
“I’m not being flippant when I give you the answer,” Polian explained. “I’m serious. Unless you’re under subpoena or oath, it’s never the right time. There is never a right time to air that.”
Polian added that “it’s never wise, in any circumstance, to go into the details” while speaking about such a matter. One wonders if Pegula will agree with such takes when the Bills begin courting free agents at the start of the new league year in March.