The first game of the 2024 NFL regular season didn't involve the Buffalo Bills. Not directly, at least.

Yet somehow, the topic of conversation during that game and trickling into the following morning was very Bills-centric. The reason for that is one that was easy to predict – Kansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy exploded onto the scene in his first career game with 68 total yards and two touchdowns, including taking an end-around for a 21 yard touchdown on his first career touch. He was selected 28th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, with the pick that the Buffalo Bills traded to the Chiefs while they were on the clock. 

Pain.

But should it hurt? Should Bills fans worry about and carry the burden of what could have been? Perhaps, but certainly not yet.

Let's go back to the draft. I was there and I'll never forget it.

When it got to around the 26th overall pick, myself and a few guys from Cover 1, with whom I was covering the draft, left the media work room and headed down to be amongst the crowd for the Bills' first selection of the night. It was late into the evening at this point. We all had been through a very long day of travel and setting up in the NFL media work room, some of us had been awake for well past 16 hours at this point. 

The Bills colors and logo were displayed. Anticipation was high. We were looking on like eager children on Christmas morning when the "TRADE" logo flashed across the stage. Then the stage was bathed in red and yellow, the Chiefs logo symbolically taking the place of the Bills.

Many, many swear words were said. Collectively, we looked at each other and agreed that it had to be for Worthy.

Worthy was announced as the pick, I swore, and I turned and walked in the opposite direction of the stage.

I loved Worthy as a prospect. He was my fourth-graded wide receiver behind Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, and Malik Nabers. His speed is blinding, but he's much more than just a fast wide receiver. His route running ability is superb, his spacial awareness is great, his body control at the catch point and on the sidelines is polished – he's a weapon, and I wanted that weapon for Josh Allen and Buffalo even before the Stefon Diggs trade, but especially after. 

It's really as simple as this, though. Buffalo had multiple players on their board that they had a similar value on, so they moved back to accumulate more assets, and ended up with a receiver that they liked, and that Josh Allen liked as well. Anything beyond that will have to play out on the field.

Here's what's important to keep in perspective – none of us are the General Manager of the Buffalo Bills (unless Brandon Beane is reading this, in which case, sup Brandon). Decisions had to be made, and in trading back, Buffalo was able to turn a fourth round pick into a third round pick, which he used on DeWayne "Blastoise" Carter. Beane then moved the 32nd overall pick to the Carolina Panthers for the 33rd overall pick, while turning a sixth round pick into a fifth round pick. The 33rd overall pick was used on Keon Coleman.

What's not fair to Coleman is that he will forever and infinitely be linked to Worthy, for better or for worse. The national media, armchair quarterbacks, and internet trolls alike will compare the two of them straight up forever. Worthy popping off in the first game doesn't help, as the national tendency will immediately look at Coleman's instant production, or lack thereof, as a way of having to "play catch-up." Plenty of loud voices are already shouting that it was a colossal mistake. 

That isn't doing him any favors. Coleman will be asked to do some different things than Worthy, is on a different offense with a different coordinator, and is a completely different style of player – Worthy is 5'11" 165 lbs and has 4.2 speed, while Coleman is 6'3" 215 lbs and plays above the rim. 

The Bills traded draft picks that gave the Chiefs:

Patrick Mahomes
Xavier Worthy

That'll hurt.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) September 6, 2024

I know it's hard not to see Worthy's performance as a missed opportunity for the Bills, and certainly the ghosts of the trade that ended up sending Patrick Mahomes to the Chiefs is a large part of the instant emotions. That's some serious scar tissue. Those thoughts certainly were in my head during opening night as well. But Coleman is his own player with a ton of promise, and we need to allow him to be who he is, and who he is only. As Theodore Roosevelt said, comparison is the thief of joy.  

Should this haunt us? Jumping to that conclusion after one game is unwise. "Apatheia," the stoics would lean on, is the ability to be undisturbed by your emotions. It's been one game. Breathe. 

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Follow along all season for all the latest Buffalo Bills news. You can also find me on X @JonHelmkamp.