Arrowhead Pride
In Kansas City’s win over Las Vegas, we could see how the rookie wide receiver is developing — and improving.
In 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs’ rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice played a significant role in their passing attack. Compared to the rest of the position group, the second-round rookie had almost instantly become the team’s most talented wideout — which forced Kansas City to accelerate his development. While there were growing pains at the beginning, the Chiefs were able to identify Rice’s best role (and get him enough up to speed) so that the offense could peak as the team closed in on its second straight Super Bowl win.
Coming into 2024, Kansas City sought to improve the group’s overall talent level by adding free-agent veteran Hollywood Brown and using its first-round pick on speedy Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy. The team clearly intended to rely on Brown and Rice as its primary wideouts, allowing them time to develop Worthy normally.
But with Brown and Rice now lost for most (if not all) of the season due to injuries — and with JuJu Smith-Schuster out for an unknown period with a hamstring injury — the team must return to what it did a year ago. While recently acquired veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will soon be the team’s most reliable receiver, the Chiefs will still have to rely heavily on their new rookie.
So we’ve been watching Worthy’s role expand — and I thought Sunday was the most complete game he’s played.
Let’s consider how he‘s being used — and how he’s improving.
Kansas City has used Worthy in many ways to find where he wins the most. On Sunday, we saw more of him alone on the back side of formations.
When he’s is on the front side, defenses can more easily shift their coverages to him, keeping him from getting as much airspace. On the back side, however, teams must decide how to defend Worthy. If he’s covered one-on-one, he can beat almost any cornerback with his speed. But if they double him to take away that speed, that leaves one fewer defender on the front side.
While this third-and-2 play gains just seven yards, it results in a new set of downs. But we can see how his role could expand; Worthy could use double moves to get downfield from this look. As long as defenses give him these kinds of cushions, he can get easy completions to move the chains — and break tackles for bigger gains.
Worthy has shown growth in finding space in zone coverage. As the season began, his routes led him away from coverages — but as he has become more comfortable running routes at this level, he’s been showing more ability there.
Worthy did the same thing in college. As he continues to recognize coverages (and learn how to adjust to them), it’s an opportunity for Worthy...
