Fan-made friendship bracelet for Kian Coleman

Buffalo, New York—Krystle Bittner enlarged a photo of Keon Coleman to verify its authenticity.

Looking at the picture of the Buffalo Bills’ rookie wide receiver taken at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere, she noticed someone had pointed out the bracelet on his wrist.

Upon closer inspection, her suspicion proved correct—Coleman was indeed wearing the Bills’ uniform and her son Logan’s friendship bracelet. Just days before May 11, they had mailed the bracelet to the Bills’ facility addressed to the receiver.

The bracelet, adorned with white, blue, and red—most of the supplies ordered online—had colors carefully chosen personally to match those of the Bills. Along with the bracelet, one inscribed with ‘Let’s Go Bills,’ and another with ‘Bills,’ was a letter written by Logan, their 10-year-old, along with a message to Coleman.

The letter welcomed the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to Buffalo, explaining how he started making friendship bracelets for players and expressing hope to see Coleman in camp this year.

He also included a drawing of Coleman scoring a touchdown in his new jersey, along with some dietary advice for the 21-year-old player, writing, ‘The best pizza is from Empire Pizza. Try the Wegman sandwich with frosting in the middle, and the ultimate chocolate cookie.’

When Logan noticed Coleman wearing his bracelet during the shoot, he was shocked. On Monday morning, he ran upstairs and exclaimed to his stuffed animals, “Hey, guys, ‘Cole’s wearing my bracelet!'”

The Bitner family from Spencerport, New York are season ticket holders for the Bills, and Crystal has taken a week off in the past two years to accompany her son to training camp.

Last year, he began crafting friendship bracelets during training camp to give to fans, including posting signs encouraging fans to come and collect free bracelets. The first player to snatch a bracelet from his hand was former Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

“I think around that time is when you started to see other things come from Tight End University … and he was watching stuff on NFL on YouTube, so I think he wanted to do a Bills adaptation, and it was in the months after Damar Hamlin (and his heart stopped),” Krystle said. “And he was just, I don’t know, Damar was very open and blunt about doing things to spread love, and he knew it was minor. Obviously, giving away friendship bracelets isn’t going to change the earth in any way, it’s just doing something nice for others, and he’s that kid.”

During the first practice of camp, Krystle estimates they brought about 25-30 bracelets they had made themselves, but they disappeared within five minutes. Throughout the year, they made nearly 1,000 bracelets, some of which were given away during games.

In the past year, they made bracelets with various information for specific players, some of which have become inside jokes within the Bills Mafia, such as Gabe Davis’ ‘Grape Davis’ and Josh Allen’s ‘Little Stitious’. A notable fan of ‘The Office,’ they awarded bracelets to everyone from active players to practice squad members.

Logan enjoys helping out, like on Sundays when he wanted to attend the Micah Hyde Charity Softball Game with his mom, despite buying tickets with his dad to sit in the stands.

This letter is Logan’s second to the Bills players—the first was sent out last year—and more are planned. The idea of writing letters actually came from Logan’s efforts in writing. Cristal found a way for him to practice writing with his teacher, without him realizing that’s what he was doing.

“I thought, ‘Okay, now we have time to figure out who we might want to send letters to, it might not amount to anything, but the point is to send them,'” Cristal said. “So, the first player he picked was Keion.

Although Coleman has been with the Bills for less than a month, he has quickly become an early favorite in Buffalo. His outgoing personality has caught people’s attention in various ways, and he wasted no time in extending his welcome to Bills fans — the wide receiver noted that earlier this month, the team even sent him a large box of Chips Ahoy cookies.

On Monday, he shared these bracelets and letters to his Instagram story. Cristal expressed delight for Logan.

“He’s a kid who dedicates his entire soul to this team during the season, and… for a player to recognize his stuff and care enough to wear it is huge for him,” Cristal said. “A, he’s an only child, B, I think he feels some kind of connection with the players is huge for him. I mean, his confidence reached its peak last year.