Xavier Worthy had a promising rookie season. But he needs to make this change
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs aim to reduce red-zone reliance through more effective deep passes.
- Long-drive drills highlight team efforts to improve offensive efficiency.
- Xavier Worthy enters 2025 season expected to expand impact beyond short gains.
The first weekend practice of Chiefs training camp brought pads and 100-plus degree heat.
So what better time for the abominable long-drive drill?
The Chiefs ran nine consecutive plays without a stoppage or using a substitute Sunday morning, a drive that culminated in Patrick Mahomes finding Hollywood Brown in the red zone for a would-be touchdown.
It was a nifty play.
But it’s just the type of play the Chiefs will try to avoid using this year.
OK, let me rephrase that: It’s just the one that the Chiefs hope to avoid needing to use so often.
The Chiefs are trying to bypass their frequent trips to the red zone, ideally in favor of connecting on downfield shots that can turn long drives into quick scores.
They averaged 6.85 plays per drive a year ago, per FTN data, most in the NFL — which is the kind of statistic you lead when you can execute third downs at the second-best clip in the NFL, but also the statistic you lead when you fail to hit on explosive plays. The Chiefs compiled long drives because they found no other way.
Kansas City completed only 13 passes 20-plus yards downfield in 2024, second fewest in the NFL. (Miami had 11; Minnesota led with 35.)
The oft-mentioned deep passing game, though, isn’t strictly about how the Chiefs can reverse a trend by making tweaks to scheme, coaching and play-calling.
It’s about who.
Which player can force the uptick?
There is an obvious answer, or at least a most obvious answer: Xavier Worthy. You know, the guy who broke an NFL Scouting Combine record for the fastest 40-yard dash time in history. It might make sense to send that receiver on some fly patterns.
Except he wasn’t that receiver last year. While part of the rationale for selecting Worthy was the belief that he could be a solution to the deep passing game, he instead became a solution to what the Chiefs needed when top wideout Rashee Rice injured his knee in Week 4.
Worthy caught 59 passes as a rookie. He had a promising year. Only one player drafted after Worthy had a more productive year: Ladd McConkey.
But of those 59 receptions, 53 of them were either behind the line of scrimmage or within 10 yards of it. He was on the receiving end of just three plays 20-plus yards beyond the line.
I’ve mentioned why Worthy still could be their downfield solution — and how a couple of otherwise meaningless throws in the Super Bowl blowout loss to the Eagles could provide some signs and belief.
But this is about why he needs to be.
There’s an element of if-not-him-then-who to this conversation. If the Chiefs are truly going to make a major jump in the area, the arrow keeps pointing at Worthy.
• Rashee Rice is one of the very best short and intermediate threats in the NFL — a statement of subjectivity backed by objective stats — but he has caught two deep shots in his career. That’s two in 24 games, playoffs included.
• Travis Kelce hasn’t caught more than three downfield passes in a season since 2020, and 36-year-old tight ends don’t seem to suddenly find a revitalization in that area of the field — or any area of the field, for that matter.
• Hollywood Brown is certainly known for his speed, but he’s averaged just 11.6 yards per catch over his career and comes with an extensive injury history. It’s not only fair to question the availability but necessary to prepare for its uncertainty.
• The statically most productive Chiefs deep receiver last year (DeAndre Hopkins) and in 2023 (Justin Watson) and in 2022 (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) are all gone.
Which reverts us back to that arrow.
Back to Worthy.
His deficiency downfield last year was like watching a, well, rookie. The opportunities came but just as quickly went, whether he was stepping his back heel out of bounds despite plenty of space to make a catch or being outright led out of bounds on a poor throw.
At the Super Bowl, as general manager Brett Veach recapped Worthy’s season, he noted that he didn’t think Mahomes fully trusted Worthy early in the year.
Then he corrected himself.
“I shouldn’t say ‘trust.’ That’s not the right word,” Veach said. “I don’t think he had a feel for him.”
That’s where necessity and optimism could make for a good marriage. There’s been more time to gather a feel.
The optimism? Once they established that feel — and illustrated their connection on the underneath routes — the long plays later came. Worthy had only three downfield catches in 16 regular-season games, but then he had four in three playoff games.
“If they try to take away the underneath, we can obviously hit them deep,” Worthy said. “We got two-way weapons.”
We, he said.
He, we’ll say.
The Chiefs need Worthy to not only factor into their biggest offseason emphasis, but they need him to carry the bulk of it — because it’s unclear how this offseason priority takes a significant step forward if Worthy finishes his second season with as few deep catches as he finished his rookie season.
That’s the necessity piece of it.
The Chiefs have a more diverse wide receiver room — and probably their best group since trading Tyreek Hill to Miami ahead of the 2022 season. All members of that group can contribute to the cause. Maybe a newcomer too.
But they need Worthy to be the centerpiece.
This story was originally published July 28, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Xavier Worthy had a promising rookie season. But he needs to make this change."