The Buffalo Bills may not want to take another call from the Kansas City Chiefs.
Seven years after trading the 10th overall pick to the Chiefs so they could draft Patrick Mahomes, the Bills traded with the Chiefs again. This time the Chiefs selected Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who ran a 4.21 40-yard dash at the NFL combine — the fastest in NFL history.
The Chiefs moved up just four spots from No. 32 to No. 28 to get Worthy in Thursday night’s NFL Draft in Detroit, but with speed like that and being in Andy Reid’s system, the move could pay big dividends for the Chiefs as they try to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat as Super Bowl champions.
The Chiefs haven’t had this type of speed since Tyreek Hill was traded to Miami. Hill routinely took the top off the defense, and the Chiefs believe Worthy can do the same.
“It doesn’t hurt to have down the field speed,” Reid said. “We’ve functioned without the great speed down the field and done well. But if you have an opportunity to get someone that you think is a good football player — not just a speed guy — but a good football player I think you probably need to take advantage of that.”
Last year the Chiefs receivers had a slew of dropped passes and penalties, and the Chiefs signed speedster Hollywood Brown in free agency. Still, the Chiefs had a need for another wideout even before the Rashee Rice high-speed car crash last month.
It is possible Rice could be suspended for his role in the accident, which made the need for adding a wide receiver in the draft even more pressing. Worthy played three seasons at Texas and had 75 receptions for 1,014 yards and five touchdowns last year for the Longhorns.
While there haven’t been questions about his speed or route running, at just 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, some teams were concerned about Worthy’s size. The Chiefs, however, believe Worthy is tough enough to succeed in the NFL.
“It’s important that you have that (toughness) in the National Football League,” Reid said. “And then with his size you can go a couple different ways with that. He plays a tough game, but he’s smart with it, too. You don’t want him running into a wall and hurting himself.
“But at the same time there’s a time when you got to be able to go get it and he’s done that at that level. Now he’s got to do it at this level. And that’ll be another challenge for him, but he’s shown that he can do it at Texas.”
