Xavier Worthy needs a bigger role, and fast

The Chiefs are desperate for receiver help. It starts with changing how thy deal with rookies.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… the Chiefs need help at wide receiver.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way in 2024. Rashee Rice was going to take a step forward (which he did). Hollywood Brown would provide veteran consistency, the ability to stretch the field, and man coverage separation. And rookie Xavier Worthy would provide even more deep speed along with the ability to make big plays as he developed with Rice and Brown did the heavy lifting.

It was a good plan, with three different receivers whose skillsets complemented one another very well (alongside the greatest TE to ever live). And hey, they even brought back Juju Smith-Schuster to serve as WR4 or WR5 to help protect depth! But, as they say, the best laid plans…

Now Brown is out until late in the season at the very earliest, and Rice is… well, we don’t really know anything other than he’s on injured reserve and it’s a serious injury, with the best case scenario that he’ll be able to return at some point this season (I’m not terribly optimistic, but we’ll see!). And suddenly the WR room looks as bare as it did in 2023, if not worse.

This has led, of course, to endless speculation as to whether the Chiefs will trade for a WR, and who that WR would be (that’s probably a topic for the bye week for me, we’ll see). But to me, that conversation is one step ahead of what Andy Reid and company should be talking about right now (though it is definitely something I favor). First, they need to talk about the most talented receiver they currently have on the roster, Xavier Worthy.

Worthy caught everyone’s attention with his second deep ball TD in 4 games (this one much more impressive given it wasn’t the result of a blown coverage), and the rookie’s electric speed is easy to see. But it’s the nuance he’s shown in limited opportunities that has caught my eye more than anything, and makes me believe he’s ready for an expanded role ahead of the usual “Andy Reid rookie plan” approach.

Let’s talk about Worthy, where he’s shown more of the little things in his routes than he gets credit for, and why making him a primary part of the offense now rather than down the road is possible (as well as imperative).

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