Brett Veach Explains Trade Rationale, Excitement for Xavier Worthy
Fresh out of the first round, Veach discussed why Kansas City moved up for Worthy and how he can help the Chiefs' offense.
The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft is in the books, and the Kansas City Chiefs have a new player after fielding some trade calls. It wasn't the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions that moved out of Day One, however.
Kansas City executed a move up the draft board with one of its main in-conference rivals. The Chiefs got to pick No. 28 via a low-cost swap with the Buffalo Bills and selected Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy. The decision is viewed as one of the "cheapest first-round non-QB trade-ups in the last 20 years," receiving universal praise from pick value analysts and national media alike.
Following up head coach Andy Reid, general manager Brett Veach spoke to the media about the trade process and why things worked out with the Bills.
"I think everyone goes into the process with their own list of priorities of what they want to do and what they want to accomplish," Veach said. "Every team constructs their team a little bit differently. I think they had a mindset of what they wanted to do. Obviously, they've done a great job over the years and they're a really good organization. I'm sure it made sense to them — I think they ended up making another move there, too.
"We were on our own agenda, and we saw value there. Again, moving 38 spots for a guy that we think will be a great addition to our team. Especially with the special team values he adds, I think, was something we really factored in."
Worthy got selected two days before his 21st birthday. He's right around two months removed from breaking the NFL Scouting Combine record for running the fastest 40-yard dash, yet he fell farther in round one than many expected. The Chiefs took advantage of the perceived slide, landing one of the draft's better athletes and quite possibly the most dangerous wideout in the class.
In addition to the special teams value, Worthy projects to bring a dynamic element back into the Chiefs' offense. Veach anticipates a new-and-improved speed threat on the field, pairing well with Marquise "Hollywood" Brown.
"Just our ability to play vertical and have speed on the field at all times," Veach said. "Having Xavier and Hollywood, I think, will make life easier for Travis (Kelce) and Rashee (Rice). I think as the season goes on here, we'll have an offense that can attack in multiple different ways and always keep defenses guessing."
Late on Thursday night, Reid gushed about just about every aspect of Worthy's game. Praising the speed was an obvious move, but he also pointed out the former Longhorn's impressive toughness, football smarts and coachability as plus traits. For a franchise investing its best 2024 draft pick, those are all tremendous qualities.
Kansas City held a formal meeting with Worthy at the Combine, although not a lot of communication went on beyond that. Despite there being plenty of doubt surrounding his draft-day availability that low in the first round, things ended up working out for both sides. Veach admitted that throughout doing his homework on Worthy, he began to learn more about the caliber of player he'd eventually land on Thursday.
"Everything our scouts said," Veach said. "Just a kid that loves football and is coachable. He's a smaller, slender guy, but he's super tough. We all know the value he adds in the special teams game is big for us. I heard Coach's (Reid) press conference, he talked to Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) and raved about him and just how quickly he picks up things, how competitive he is, work ethic, all those things you look for. You have a dynamic playmaker with top-end vertical speed, smart. You can move him around and do different things with him."
It confirmed the organization's priors, doubling down on everyone's confidence in this pick being the right one.
"From where we started, every step of the way, it just kind of validated the things we thought all along."
