Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t invest in wide receivers heavily this offseason. The team re-signed Tyquan Thornton to a modest contract, added nobody in free agency and waited until the fifth round to address the position in the draft.
The team is clearly betting on the development of the team’s young receivers to improve an offense that failed to meet expectations in 2025.
A few weeks ago, I looked at Rashee Rice’s 2025 season. Now, let’s review Xavier Worthy’s performance during the second year of his NFL career.
By the end of his rookie year, Worthy was becoming a prominent weapon for the Chiefs when they needed to use quick game to move the chains. Because of his shoulder injury, the Chiefs didn’t feature him as much as a short-yardage player, but he still provided value there in 2025. Worthy’s speed is a weapon in motion and if he can get the right angle, he can sprint for first downs.
Worthy had success on multiple endarounds throughout the season. Worthy isn’t the most creative runner and struggles to break tackles, but in open space, he can pick up yards in a flash. Having Kenneth Walker as a more dynamic run threat should open more space on these plays in 2026. Defenses will have to account for Walker in the backfield more, and should get Worthy more opportunities against an unbalanced defense.
A frustrating aspect of Worthy’s first two seasons is that the Chiefs haven’t consistently gotten him the ball downfield. Some of that is due to limitations in Worthy’s game, which I’ll dive into later. However, it’s not all on Worthy.
There are plenty of examples of Worthy easily creating separation with his speed and winning downfield, only for Patrick Mahomes to miss him. When Worthy can avoid contact and get a one-on-one against a defensive back in space, not many guys have the speed to stay with him. If Mahomes were more accurate downfield, that would’ve helped the Chiefs and Worthy out tremendously.
I’ve never been the highest on Worthy’s route running, but I came away more impressed after rewatching some games. Worthy will always have some limitations to how he runs routes at his size, but he shows more craft and change of pace than he used to. Worthy took a jump, creating separation at the top of the routes, using different paces and changes of direction. Compared to his rookie year and his last year at Texas, he took a jump here in 2025.
A frustrating part of Worthy’s game is his lack of yards after catch. Despite his speed, he struggles to create extra yards in space. Worthy’s lack of strength means he can’t break tackles through contact, and he’s not the most agile or creative runner. He has a good “fly-by” move, where he’ll decelerate to let a defender fly by him, but he doesn’t have much wiggle in space. There’s only so much value...
