NEW ORLEANS — Xavier Worthy wasn’t supposed to be the No. 1 wide receiver for the Chiefs right away — or even at all. Kansas City had a returning, budding star in Rashee Rice, and also signed Hollywood Brown in free agency, all before trading up to select Worthy with the No. 28 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Early in the season, it seemed clear that while Kansas City had a plan to incorporate Worthy into the offense, it was also going to take things slowly and ramp him up to being a true, full-time, top option in the passing game. He played between 50-68% of the team’s offensive snaps through the first three weeks of the season, totaling 11 targets and five rushing attempts in those games and generating 120 total yards and two touchdowns with those touches.
And then, early in the Chiefs’ Week 4 win over the division rival Los Angeles Chargers, Rice went down with a torn ACL. Brown had already suffered a shoulder injury during the preseason that would ultimately keep him out until Week 16, so Worthy very suddenly became the top perimeter target for Patrick Mahomes.
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And early in that process, things didn’t go well. From Weeks 5 through 10, Worthy was targeted 28 times, but he caught only 11 passes for 92 yards. Defenses were clearly making it a priority to take him out of the game, and for a five-game, midseason stretch, they did so quite successfully.
“They would just mix up the coverages, make sure nothing got past them,” Worthy said.
Luckily, he had plenty of people he could lean on during that stretch. Not just Brown and Rice, but other veterans who have been at or near the top of their positions for a long, long time.
“I feel like Coach Reid and the guys, guys like [DeAndre Hopkins] and Travis Kelce and Pat really helped me out, gave me the confidence to go out there and ball,” he said.
And that’s exactly what he did. Through his first 11 career games, including that aforementioned five-game stretch, Worthy caught just 28 total passes, and never more than four in a game. He averaged 2.5 grabs for 32.1 yards a week, and he totaled 11 carries for 49 yards.
He found himself in the end zone six times thanks to his electric speed and Reid’s creative play designs, but he wasn’t making an impact commensurate with his significant skill set. He had the tools, but the results just weren’t there. He and Mahomes weren’t connecting, as even his deep speed and the quarterback’s big arm didn’t seem to mesh. But his teammates didn’t think he was playing badly; things just weren’t exactly right.
“I told him basically like when I was watching film to keep doing what he was doing,” Brown said. “You know, Pat might miss you on some stuff or you might not be on the same page, but the NFL season’s so long that once he gets going, once he gets rolling, that’s when momentum picks up.”
And the momentum indeed picked up. Things really clicked for Worthy late in the regular season, and things have carried over to the playoffs. Across his last seven games, Worthy has 42 grabs for 413 yards and three scores. He’s averaged six catches for 59.3 yards per week, essentially doubling his early-season output. He even set a new career high in receiving yards when totaling six catches for 85 yards in the AFC title game against the Bills.
“He was frustrated for a little bit,” Brown said. “But then as he started going and started picking up, he started getting more involved and now you can see where his game can go.”
All of the Chiefs’ veterans praised Worthy’s willingness — eagerness — to learn from them throughout the year, starting as early as the offseason program. “As far as Xavier, bro, he’s a real professional. As a young dude, he understands and he gets it,” said JuJu Smith-Schuster, who re-signed with the Chiefs toward the tail end of training camp. “When I first got here, I could already see that he had that in him.”
As far as what, exactly, clicked toward the back end of the season, Brown thinks that his own return to the lineup has allowed Worthy to move around the formation more often, which has in turn let the Chiefs take advantage of his speed on a more regular basis because he doesn’t have to be the only guy stretching the field deep.
And that’s definitely been the case. Prior to Brown’s return in Week 16, Worthy lined up in the slot on 31.8% of his snaps, via TruMedia, out wide for 66.6% and in the backfield 1.6% of the time. Since then, he’s been in the slot on 44.4% of snaps and outside for 53.7%, while taking 1.9% of his snaps in the backfield. He’s been targeted on 30.7% of his routes when working out of the slot across those four games, and he’s got 16 catches for 156 yards and two scores on those plays. That’s compared with only a 15.8% target rate and 13 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns from the slot through the first 15 weeks of the season.
Smith-Schuster also, unsurprisingly, brings up that speed. The threat of Worthy going vertical is so terrifying to opposing defenses that he’s able to create a ton of separation, he said. When you run the fastest 40-yard dash in the history of the NFL Scouting Combine, that’s liable to happen.
And again, Worthy’s teammate is correct: Among the 54 wide receivers with at least 75 targets during the regular season, only five of them — Khalil Shakir, Demario Douglas, Jayden Reed and Zay Flowers — created more separation, on average, than did Worthy, according to NFLPro. That’s continued into the playoffs, where Worthy has averaged nearly a full yard more separation than he did during the regular season. As a result, his target rate his spiked to 26.5% through Kansas City’s two games.
Heading into the Super Bowl, the Chiefs will surely look to weaponize Worthy’s speed early and often — both down the field and in the short passing game, and probably even in the rushing attack. Philadelphia’s defense is quick, physical and disciplined, but it’s still hell trying to keep up with the fastest man in the game. And given the way he’s grown into a more complete receiver throughout the season, that task will be tougher to do than ever before.
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