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Xavier Worthy-Keon Coleman trade details: Revisiting the draft day deal that sent rookie WRs to AFC rivals

The 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs travel to Highmark Stadium to take on the 8-2 Buffalo Bills in a pivotal AFC matchup in Week 11.

Sunday’s game will be the first time these two teams have met since last season’s classic. Kansas City won 27-24 to advance to the AFC Championship on their way to winning their second straight Super Bowl.

Besides the important stakes for playoff seeding and home field advantage, there’s another interesting aspect to this matchup: Kansas City and Buffalo will meet for the first time since a surprise draft-day trade that ultimately brought in WRs Keon Coleman and Xavier Worthy with the AFC rivals.

Unfortunately, Coleman won’t play against Kansas City due to a wrist injury, but Worthy believes he’ll get his usual reps as the first big threat in the Chiefs’ offense.

Let’s look back at the deal between the two teams that sent Coleman and Worthy to their respective rookie franchises.

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Xavier Worthy-Keon Coleman trade details

During the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bills traded back, sending the No. 28 overall pick to the Chiefs in exchange for the No. 32 overall pick with two additional picks.

These were the initial terms of the transaction:

  • Buffalo receives picks No. 32, No. 95 and No. 221
  • Kansas City receives picks No. 28, No. 133 and No. 248

The Bills later traded the No. 32 overall pick to Carolina in exchange for the No. 33 overall pick and a fourth-round pick.

With the trade, the Chiefs drafted Worthy out of the University of Texas in the first round, and the Bills selected Coleman out of Florida State. Here’s a snapshot of both WRs’ collegiate careers:

Player Seasons School Receptions Recruiting Touchdowns
Keon Coleman 2021-23 Michigan State, FSU 115 1,506 19
Xavier Waard 2021-23 Texas 197 2,755 26

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Why did both teams make the trade?

For starters, both teams needed help at receiver. The Chiefs had to replace deep threat Marquez Valdes-Scantling, while the Bills had to replace star forward Stefon Diggs, who was traded to the Texans earlier that month. With the teams looking for different qualities in their respective early-round WRs, they both felt a deal that could potentially help their AFC rivals made sense.

“That’s not to say there won’t be a lot of work needed on his end,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said of the decision to appoint Worthy. “It’s definitely a different game at this level. He will have to get stronger – and all the things that have been said about (his) playing strength.

“I just think about where we are with this team, just having someone who can come in and provide game-changing speed — and be smart enough to come in here and understand this offense and be ready to go.”

Of course, Bills fans were beautiful angry at the trade. Kansas City has been the Bills’ biggest rival in the AFC in recent years, and Buffalo has an 0-3 record against the Chiefs in the playoffs.

Not to mention the last time the Chiefs traded back with the Bills in the first round of the draft? That was in 2017, when Kansas City originally had the 27th overall pick. The Chiefs traded Buffalo to move up to No. 10 overall to select – wait for it – Patrick Mahomes.

“It’s ultimately going to have to play out on the field, with the players we acquired (and) the player they acquired,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said of the transaction. It’s not like we traded the player to Kansas City; I understand that story as if we had traded Stefon Diggs to Kansas City, “Why would you trade him there?”

“You don’t really know who someone is going to select when you trade with them,” he continued. “They’re not going to call and say, ‘Hey, we’re making a trade, and we’re going to get this player.’ And if you don’t trade with them and choose another player, they can still trade with someone else. I never understood that story; I’m sure they not only called the Buffalo Bills to trade up, but probably a number of other teams as well.”

When both offenses face off on Sunday, we’ll get front row seats for which the team made the better decision in April.

WEEK 11 FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kickers

Xavier Worthy vs. Keon Coleman statistics 2024

Player Receptions Recruiting Touchdowns
Xavier Waard 20 246 3
Keon Coleman 22 417 3

Worthy has also rushed for 37 yards on nine carries, with a touchdown.

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