Over the last several years, the Buffalo Bills have had a massive thorn in their side by the name of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2017, the Chiefs made a massive trade with the Bills to go up and get the best quarterback to ever play the game of football in Patrick Mahomes. The Bills would go on to regret this trade, but fortunately for them, they were able to recover by landing a star QB of their own in Josh Allen.
In the 2024 draft, the Bills elected to cut a deal with the Chiefs again, allowing Kansas City to get up to grab star receiver Xavier Worthy. Last year, Worthy went on to play a key role in the Chiefs' offense, with almost 750 yards of total offense and nine touchdowns in the 17 games of the regular season, and was arguably better in the playoffs. Against the Bills (combined regular season and playoffs), Worthy put up 170 total yards and scored two touchdowns.
The Bills' defense simply could not keep up with Worthy and his relentless speed, and regret for the trade did not take long to kick in for Buffalo. The Bills' corners struggled with speed across the board, with guys like Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill in their own division, but no one gave the Bills more trouble than Xavier Worthy. Realizing this, the Bills realized if they wanted to beat the Chiefs, they needed to add someone with elite speed to match with Worthy in coverage.
In the first round yesterday, the Bills selected the fastest player in the draft in Maxwell Hairston, who flew up boards after being one of two players to run a sub-4.3 40-yard dash. The Bills did have a clear need at corner, but with Will Johnson sliding due to injury concerns, the Bills decided to go a different direction in the draft and land the speedster in Maxwell Hairston.
Hairston is a talented prospect, who I had graded at 52 on my big board, making this a bit of a reach for the Bills picking at 30. Hairston is still a bit raw, but he has good physical traits, with good speed and physicality that makes him one of the better jam coverage corners in the draft. This made Hairston appealing enough for Buffalo to select him at pick 30 over several other top players in the class.
Regardless of the talent, the intent of the pick for Buffalo was clear: stop Xavier Worthy, the player they handed the Chiefs in last year's class. While the Bills did this, Brett Veach was playing chess, adding a fifth-round pick to move back one spot, while adding a top-ten player in the draft. Once again, on draft day, it felt like Brett Veach and the Chiefs were one step ahead while the rest of the league tries to catch up.