KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs were satisfied with the production they got in 2024 from wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who finished sixth among NFL rookies in receptions (59), seventh in yards (538) and second in touchdowns from scrimmage (nine).
They will be disappointed if Worthy doesn’t give them much more next season.
“We learned Xavier is more than a deep threat. He also has the ability to do that and we probably could have tapped into that even more,” coach Andy Reid said at the NFL combine. “I’m not sure we’ve tapped that out. I think there’s more, and that’s exciting.”
Worthy’s improvement will be crucial for the Chiefs’ passing game in 2025. He is one of two Chiefs wide receivers to catch more than two passes in 2024 and be under contract for next season.
The other is Rashee Rice, who was leading the NFL in catches with 24 heading into a Week 4 game against the Los Angeles Chargers. He injured his right knee in that game while chasing a fumble and didn’t play again the rest of the season.
The Chiefs are expecting Rice back for the start of the regular season, but they are also anticipating an NFL suspension into Rice for his involvement in a high-speed six-car crash on a Dallas freeway last spring.
The other main wide receivers from last season are potential free agents: DeAndre Hopkins, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown, Justin Watson and Mecole Hardman. General manager Brett Veach said the Chiefs would like to retain Brown. One or more of the others could return as well, though Brown appears the priority.
The Chiefs have more work to do at wide receiver in the draft, this despite picking Worthy in the first round last year, Rice in the second round in 2023 and Skyy Moore in the second round in 2022. Moore didn’t catch a pass last season and has just 43 receptions in his three seasons with the Chiefs.
“Receiver will be a position that we’ll never shy away from,” Veach said. “We’ll certainly always look to add weapons. The last two years we’ve added two great receivers. It’s a shame where Rashee got hurt because I think he had a chance to be a top-10 receiver. With the progress Worthy made last year. I think those guys will be a dynamic combination and we’ll see if we can get Hollywood back.”
The Chiefs planned to center their downfield passing game last season around Brown, Rice and Worthy, who ran the fastest 40 time ever at last year’s scouting combine at 4.21. But because of injuries they never had the three on the field at the same time, and for a big chunk of the regular season they had only Worthy in their lineup.
Worthy, who won’t be 22 until June, had to develop quickly. He had two touchdowns, one on a catch and the other on a run, in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens but didn’t become a consistent producer until a midseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
Worthy had 20 catches for 246 yards through the first nine games. Over his final eight games starting with the one against Buffalo, Worthy had 39 receptions for 392 yards.
“I feel like the Bills game was like a game where I kind of flipped the switch where stuff started to turn around,” Worthy said. “I started understanding the defenses a little and getting friendly for the quarterback faster.”
Worthy had a big game in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIX loss to Philadelphia, though most of his catches came after the Eagles had built a big lead. Worthy caught eight passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns, including two receptions of 50 yards each.
That left quarterback Patrick Mahomes eager to see what Worthy can deliver next season.
“I always knew Xavier was going to be a great football player just because obviously the talent’s there but the way he works, I mean he gets after it,” Mahomes said. “He’s extremely smart. We put a lot on his plate, and he just wants more. He wants to continue to be better and be great for the football team.”
The Chiefs used Worthy mostly as a deep threat early in the season. They expanded his game to include more shorter routes, a big reason he caught more passes later in the season. Reid said it took the coaching staff some time to learn that Worthy could excel at some of the shorter patterns.
“He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s not afraid to run crossing routes,” Reid said. “Sometimes you see those guys and they tiptoe across. He goes 100 miles an hour. All that stuff he did was all new compared to what he did in college. Then for Pat to be able to trust and know where he’s going to be, all that stuff takes time.”
The Chiefs don’t plan to turn Worthy into a full-time possession receiver. That’s an area where Rice excels.
They want more of the big plays like the ones he delivered in the Super Bowl.
“My speed is an advantage on every play because really they have to respect it every play,” Worthy said. “Whether I’m using it or not, I still have it. So when I come off the ball, you think I’m going to go deep and I could run a slant or it’s a run play. … The speed is a weapon, so people automatically think, ‘Oh, you’re a speed guy, you’re going deep.’
“My biggest thing that I bring to the wide receiver room is the speed, the ability to take the top off. … That makes me a thriller anywhere on the field.”
