As the Kansas City Chiefs head into the stretch run of the 2024 NFL season and gear up for another deep playoff run, one of the most exciting developments has been that of rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy's emergence late this season.
Following a somewhat slow start to his career outside of a few explosive plays, Worthy has taken a small step forward each week since the halfway point and has begun to unlock himself within the offense right as the Chiefs need it most.
Expectations for Worthy were extremely high heading into the season given that the Chiefs traded up for him in the first round after he ran the fastest 40-yard dash in NFL Combine history. His acquisition was a signal that Kansas City wanted to bring the vertical threat and deep passing game back to the offensive game plan.
While Worthy has produced some of those plays, the deep ball connection has simply not been there consistently with Patrick Mahomes all year, leaving a lot of production on the field for Worthy and ultimately leading to some people questioning his true potential in this league.
What most forget about Worthy, however, is that he wasn't supposed to be a very large part of the offense as a rookie. The original plan was for Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice to lead the offense with Xavier Worthy mixing in, but injuries have thrust Worthy into action and placed an unfair amount of the offense on his shoulders.
Chiefs Kingdom went through the same sort of thing with Rashee Rice although, instead of injuries being the reason it was simply a lack of talent in the wide receiver room that forced Rice into a bigger role that was probably unfair for him as a rookie.
In a similar fashion, Worthy has taken the early lumps and struggles and learned from them to become an integral part of the offense late in the season. Over his last 7 games, Worthy is averaging over 55 yards receiving per game and has added 67 yards rushing and 1 more touchdown on the ground
More importantly, Worthy is finding more ways to impact the game outside of just threatening the defense downfield. He's beginning to beat more man coverage off the line of scrimmage, allowing Patrick Mahomes to get the ball out quickly and move the chains and he's come up with several clutch catches in big moments such as on 3rd-and-long against the Los Angeles Chargers to keep a second half drive alive.
Worthy is doing more of the little things right each week and becoming a much more well-rounded receiver, and the explosive plays are sure to come at some point as he is getting open more and more easily.
The Houston Texans game was yet another step forward for Worthy as he gave cornerbacks Kamari Lassiter and Derek Stingley Jr.—two of the most talented young defensive backs in the league—just about everything they could handle. He caught 7 of his 8 targets for 65 yards and a touchdown in Kansas City's 27-19 win. On Wednesday, he added 8 catches on 9 targets for 79 more yards and a score.
For a rookie who faced a lot of criticism early on, Worthy is putting it all together at the right time and giving Chiefs fans something to be excited about. He's quietly putting together one of the best rookie wide receiver seasons out of the 2024 NFL Draft class and his development could end up being a huge difference come playoff time for Kansas City when the offense is going to need to flip that switch.