Commentary: AFC Championship Game renews a debate that should be put to bed
Let's make one thing clear before we go any further: The Buffalo Bills don't need to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game Sunday night to somehow justify a 2017 draft-day trade that enabled the Chiefs to draft Patrick Mahomes, even if he is the best quarterback in the NFL now and on his way to becoming the best of all time.
Both teams did what they needed to do that day, and it couldn't have worked out better for either one.
The Chiefs were much closer to a finished product when they gave the Bills their first-round pick (No. 27) and a third-round pick (No. 91) in 2017 and a first-round pick in 2018 (No. 22) for the Bills' first-round pick (No. 10), which they used to select Mahomes.
Mahomes went on to become the league MVP and lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title since Hank Stram ordered up the 65 toss power trap.
But the Bills were able to turn their haul into a plentiful bounty that includes cornerback Tre'Davious White, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and left tackle Dion Dawkins.
They were not as close to a finished product as the Chiefs were then. But thanks in large part to the value received in that original trade, they are on equal footing now.
Besides, their choice of Josh Allen with the No. 7 pick in 2018, four spots after the New York Jets moved up to take Sam Darnold at No. 3, landed them a quarterback who has blossomed into one of the league's elite.
You don't need the best quarterback in the history of the world to win the Super Bowl. But you do need to put a team around one you can win with, which the Bills might not have been able to do had they stood pat and just drafted Mahomes that day.
Now they have a proven playoff winner in Allen and an all-star supporting cast to go with him and continue to build around.
White became an elite player almost immediately. Ditto for Edmunds. Both have been Pro Bowl selections in each of the last two seasons, and White was an All-Pro in 2019.
Dawkins needed a little more time to find his way, but eventually he emerged to become a key component of a team at or near its athletic peak.
"They got a good player in Patrick," coach Sean McDermott said, via ESPN, "and I think we made out as well with Josh, Tremaine and Tre'Davious -- however you kind of shape that, in terms of picks that became picks. I think both teams fared awfully well."
So before turning this contest into a referendum on that trade, try to think of how good the Bills would be right now with Mahomes but decidely lesser players at left tackle, cornerback and linebacker.
Only one team can win on Sunday, but both won on that day. That much is certain.
Regardless of Sunday night's result, this trade already has gone down in history as one both teams had to make.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.
