The Kansas City Chiefs had a concise plan during the 2024 NFL offseason: Bring back the deep passing game. It was apparent when Patrick Mahomes brought receivers to Texas for workouts. It became increasingly apparent during OTAs, training camp, and the preseason. The Chiefs aimed to recapture the explosive elements of their offense that faded in the years following Tyreek Hill’s trade to the Miami Dolphins.
Those plans to reignite the deep passing game were thwarted during the first game of the preseason when veteran WR Hollywood Brown suffered an injury that would land him on injured reserve. Suddenly, the team relied upon rookie WR Xavier Worthy as their field-stretching ace. It wasn’t his lack of speed or ability, but his lack of experience was cause for concern heading into the 2024 NFL season. If not for Brown’s injury, he’d have a chance to be eased along and learn slowly. They needed to throw Worthy into the fire fast and even faster once second-year WR Rashee Rice went down with a knee injury.
Fans got a taste of what Worthy could accomplish as a deep threat shortly after Rice’s injury when he caught a 54-yard touchdown reception against the Los Angeles Chargers. In the ensuing weeks since that play, the Chiefs have simply been unable to connect on deep shots between Mahomes and Worthy.
The most recent miss came in Week 10 against the Denver Broncos, and it was squarely on Mahomes. It led Worthy out of bounds and nearly injured the rookie when a more accurate throw would have resulted in a 50-plus-yard touchdown.
“I’ve just got to go back to the fundamentals and try to make those throws,” Mahomes said on Wednesday. “I mean, you can only do so much as far as when you miss stuff, but you go back and learn from it as best, as best as you can. You get back to your fundamentals and. There’s a couple of (throws) these last few weeks, I’ve missed Xavier (Worthy) on some of those deep shots, and I feel like if I hit those shots, the offense looks completely different, not only for those numbers and those stats, but opens up everything else to everybody else. And so just trying to get back to that, he’s getting open every single game, hitting those throws whenever I can. And it’ll take pressure off the rest of the offense as well.”
Some of the errors have been on the rookie receiver, though. In Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Worthy drifted toward the sideline in his route and ended up out of bounds. There’s no denying that Worthy has shown improvement throughout the season, even if it doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet.
“Yeah, I think you can see how much he learned from week to week,” Mahomes said of Worthy. “I mean, the week before he got open and kind of faded a little bit, caught the ball and ended up being out of bounds, whereas you saw in that, double move, he kind of stacked the guy — we say, got back on the red line — gave me room to throw and then I threw the ball out of bounds. And so you see those steady progressions each and every week. And I think in the long run, it’s going to really pay off, because he is getting open, and I have the confidence I’ll be able to hit him on some of those shots down the field. And, like I said, it’s going to open up the rest of the offense as well.”
Mahomes knows that it’s not a matter of Worthy getting open. He’s getting open, but missing those opportunities is hurting the team. Connecting on these deep shot plays can completely transform the offense from its current state. Forcing the defense to account for Worthy’s speed makes life easier for the running game and the short-to-intermediate passing game.
The duo have no choice but to keep working at it. If they can consistently hit on some of these deep passing plays, they know that it could take the offense and this team to a whole new level. Hopefully, that all starts in Week 11 against the Buffalo Bills, a game in which everyone on the team knows they’ll have to be at their best.
