NEW ORLEANS – Brandon Beane insisted he has no seller’s remorse.
Let’s be real for a second, though. It could not have been easy for the Buffalo Bills’ general manager last week watching as rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy made several big plays for the Kansas City Chiefs in their AFC championship game win.
Worthy, like quarterback Patrick Mahomes, always will have a loose connection to Buffalo in that the Bills made a draft-day trade with Kansas City to put the Chiefs in position to draft both players.
Ahead of their meeting in the AFC championship game, Worthy used his trade as motivation.
“I feel it’s a sign they didn’t want me,” he said of the Bills trading the No. 28 pick in the first round of April’s draft to Kansas City for the No. 32 pick – despite both teams having a clear need at wide receiver. “I’m going to play with a chip on my shoulder. This game means a little bit more. This is a team that traded their pick away to get somebody else.”
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Worthy had 101 yards from scrimmage in Kansas City’s 32-29 win, finishing with six catches for a game-high 85 receiving yards and a touchdown and adding 16 rushing yards on two carries. After the win, he doubled down on his feelings about the Bills trading down, saying. “I felt like it was a disrespect to me that they went and grabbed a receiver right after they traded their pick. I took it as they didn’t want me.”
To acquire Worthy, the Chiefs traded picks 32, 95 and 221 to the Bills for picks 28, 133 and 248. Buffalo then traded down once more, swapping with Carolina before ultimately selecting Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman with the first pick of the second round.
As soon as the pick was made, a natural comparison between the two players was to be expected, one that will continue throughout their respective careers.
Here’s how the numbers look for both players after their rookie season:
Worthy: 17 games, 13 starts, 98 targets, 59 catches, 638 receiving yards (10.8 yards per catch), six touchdowns, 20 carries, 104 yards, three touchdowns.
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Coleman: 13 games, 12 starts, 57 targets, 29 catches, 556 receiving yards (19.2 yards per catch), four touchdowns, one carry, 9 yards.
In the playoffs:
Worthy: 2 games, 2 starts, 13 targets, 11 catches, 130 yards (11.8 yards per catch), one touchdown, three carries, 8 yards.
Coleman: 3 games, 2 starts, 8 targets, 3 catches, 22 yards (7.3 yards per catch).
Advantage so far? Chiefs.
“No one’s going to make the Hall of Fame after year one, and no one’s going to get thrown out of the league,” Beane said during his end-of-season news conference. “Both players can be good for both teams (for) years to come. We’ll look back in four, five, six years and decide what players that we drafted worked out for us and other teams, as well, and so, I don’t think today, you and I can draw a statement of how either one of these careers will go. I understand the question, but we’re always going to make moves about the Buffalo Bills, just like they’re always going to make moves about the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Immediately after the trade, there were two prevailing schools of thought. The first was that Beane should be applauded for not being afraid to make a trade with the Chiefs simply because they’re, well, the Chiefs. Acting in the Bills’ best interest is his job.
The second is that trading with the Chiefs should have been off the table for the Bills. Again, because they’re, well, the Chiefs, and both teams needed playmakers to support their superstar quarterbacks.
“The Bills have a great staff, and that’s one of the best teams in the NFL,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said recently. “A lot of people make it out like the Bills didn’t want him. They know what they’re doing. We just stick to our board. We have a plan and we believe in it. We don’t really second-guess ourselves.”
Beane is right that the story isn’t finished. Coleman was on an upward trajectory midway through the season, making nine catches for 195 yards and a touchdown over two games against the Titans and Seahawks in Weeks 7 and 8. A wrist injury suffered the following week against the Dolphins, however, stalled that momentum.
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“I would say probably was a little disappointed in the return from the injury,” Beane said. “I did not see the same player down the stretch from a physicality, some of the things that he needs to use his size. Some of that is youth, some of that is, I’m not sure how many injuries he’s had to overcome in-season and come back. That takes a certain experience level, maybe how to deal with an injury, how to return.”
Beane said the team had honest, direct conversations with Coleman about that very thing, and that he expects it to benefit his career moving forward.
“We got to remember, he’s 21 years old, and some of the guys that get drafted in the first round are 24 or 25,” Beane said. “So, let’s give him a little grace, here. His career will not be defined by one season, and he did some good things. He has a skill set that we think will play well in this offense, but it’s up to him. He’s going to have to work very hard this offseason, him and Josh (Allen) continue to work on that rapport together. But I’m optimistic that he’ll do those things, and that we’ll see him continue to improve.”
Durability was one of the main questions about Worthy heading into last season’s draft. At 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, he is one of the smallest players in the NFL, but Sunday’s Super Bowl will be his 20th game of his rookie year.
“We knew that he was talented. We knew that he was a great football player, but how smart he is, how he’s able to learn from his mistakes and be better because of that, I think the progression shows he’s going to be an even better receiver next year,” Mahomes said Tuesday. “I’m excited for him and the future or our receiver room.”
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Worthy had a 23-yard gain against the Bills on the drive that ended with Kansas City’s go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter. As he celebrated on the field after the win, he was asked one more time about the Bills’ decision.
“I said it once: They skipped on me,” he said. “That’s their loss.”
Worthy was a bit more diplomatic about things Monday. He said he fully expected to be here based on the Chiefs’ sustained run of success, which includes back-to-back championships.
“Anybody that was watching the NFL wouldn’t expect nothing less, so I’m just blessed to be in this position,” he said.
Worthy made a top-30 visit to the Bills last year during the pre-draft process, so there was seemingly a genuine interest from Beane about drafting the Texas receiver. He set the NFL scouting combine record by running a 4.21-second 40-yard dash, a sign of his explosiveness.
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Ultimately, the Bills went in a much different direction by selecting Coleman, who, at 6-4, 215 pounds, is an entirely different type of receiver.
“It’s just like how I’m playing throughout the season – the highs have been carrying over throughout the season,” Worthy said. “Just understanding that guys who doubted me coming into the league said that I was too small, a liability – ‘Is he going to be able to play all 17, 18 games?’ So, just I feel like I just want to cross some checkmarks, and just continue to build.
“Just played one of my best games – arguably my best game of my career in the NFL. So, just want to carry over what I did last week into this week. When I came to the Chiefs, like I said, I expected nothing less than a Super Bowl.”
