Xavier Worthy has revenge game in his sights, but Bills shouldn't sweat it

The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. 

It’s a fitting matchup for both teams in many ways. Kansas City’s starters suffered their only loss of the season against Buffalo at Highmark Stadium in Week 11. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has  a .800 career winning percentage, but he has lost four of his five regular-season matchups against Buffalo. On Sunday, the Chiefs will get a rematch in front of their home crowd.

While the Chiefs will attempt to exact revenge for their lone loss of the 2024 season, the Bills are hoping to exorcise trauma from prior postseasons. Bills quarterback Josh Allen has enjoyed great success against Kansas City in the regular season, but he has lost all three of his playoff games against the Chiefs in heartbreaking fashion. While it may not be as devastating as Buffalo’s four consecutive Super Bowl losses, a fourth consecutive playoff loss to the Chiefs would linger over Allen’s legacy.

While most of the focus for the conference championship is on the quarterbacks, one Chiefs player has a personal vendetta against the Bills.

Xavier Worthy felt unwanted by Bills’ draft day trade

On Friday, Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy told reporters that he felt slighted by the Bills trading out of the pick that the Chiefs used to select him in the 2024 NFL Draft.

"I mean, I take it as a blessing and I feel like it's a sign that they didn't want me," Worthy said, via Sports Illustrated. "At the end of the day, I'm going to play with my chip on my shoulder. This game means a little bit more. Obviously, it's the AFC championship game, but this is a team that traded their pick away to get somebody else."

The Bills traded the No. 28 overall pick to Kansas City in exchange for the No. 32 overall pick. The Chiefs sent a third-round pick (No. 95) and seventh-round pick (No. 221) to move up, and they received a fourth-round pick (No. 133) and seventh-round pick (No. 248) from Buffalo in return.

The Bills traded back another spot in exchange for an additional fourth-round pick before selecting Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman with the No. 33 overall pick.

Worthy generated plenty of pre-draft excitement with a record-setting 40-yard dash of 4.21 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine. Coleman didn’t enter the draft with nearly as much buzz, but he’s proven to be a reliable contributor in a diverse passing attack. 

Buffalo used the remaining picks they received on defensive tackle DeWayne Carter, offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, and offensive guard Travis Clayton. Carter was starting to make plays for Buffalo’s defensive front before suffering a wrist injury in Week 7 that landed him on the injured reserve list.