In order to get back to the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs will need numerous things to pan out for them. One of those factors is the continued development of 2024 first-round pick Xavier Worthy.
Luckily for the reigning AFC champions, their young wide receiver appears to be making the right strides. In an appearance on the “NFL Spotlight” show with Ari Meirov, senior team reporter Matt McMullen dove into further detail.
Xavier Worthy Has Taken a ‘Leap’ Entering Sophomore Campaign
McMullen believes that entering year two, Worthy is a noticeably better player.
“Oh yeah, I think I’ve seen him take a leap as a player in general, all-around,” McMullen said. “It’s funny — the 40-yard dash time is really what put him on everyone’s radar last year in terms of fans nationally, but he’s so much more than that. The 40, in my mind, was almost a bad thing for him in terms of how people perceive him, because he gets lumped in with these other track stars. He’s very fast, but he’s more than that.”
That assessment should be terrifying for opposing defenses. As much as Worthy’s speed can work against him in the public eye, it gave him a very intriguing floor. Even if he never clicked as a true top option at the NFL level, the former Texas Longhorns star would be able to take the top off of defenses and factor into special teams. Players don’t rack up 2,755 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns in college by accident, nor do they stumble upon leading the nation in punt return yardage as a junior.
Because Worthy was so important as a rookie, the Chiefs didn’t even test out the latter skill set. Instead, they targeted him 98 times in the passing game to the tune of 59 receptions for 638 yards and 6 touchdowns. They also ran him 20 times for 104 yards and 3 scores on the ground.
Worthy and Kansas City left plenty of meat on the bone, too, setting the scene for a sophomore breakout.
Chiefs’ Trying 2024-25 Season Helped Worthy Mature Quickly
Worthy’s significance to the Chiefs’ prior season wasn’t designed. Originally, he was slotted in to be a complementary piece to burgeoning star Rashee Rice and offseason signing Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. That, along with tight end Travis Kelce, should’ve been enough to allow the then-rookie to slowly ramp up.
Unfortunately, Brown suffered a sternoclavicular injury during the preseason. Less than two months later, Rice went down with a season-ending knee injury. Kelce also started to show his age in a major way. All of that forced Worthy into a high-profile role in his age-21 campaign.
It took him a while to get going but once he did, the rest was history. McMullen thinks the sequence of events wound up being a good thing for Worthy.
“He has crazy speed, but he’s so much more than just a burner,” McMullen said. “I think he’s really a complete receiver that has great strength. Yeah, his route running has been improved as well. In a way, even though last year didn’t go quite as planned with the receiver corps, which is an understatement, losing Hollywood and Rashee early on, I think it ended up being a benefit for him in the long run and his career because he had to step up and be the guy.”
McMullen mentioned Week 11’s game against the Buffalo Bills as a turning point. It’s hard to argue against it. In Worthy’s first nine games, he averaged 2 receptions for 27 yards per game. Thereafter, those numbers spiked to 5.6 and 56, respectively. The postseason saw him level up, highlighted by an 8-catch, 157-yard, 2-touchdown effort in Super Bowl LIX versus the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs aren’t out of the woods. Brown may be back at practice, but he’s injury-prone. A suspension is still likely coming for Rice this season. In the worst of cases, though, Worthy is showing he can be counted on to improve in his second season.
