Former Texas Longhorns star WR Xavier Worthy shines, scores for Kansas City Chiefs
Now, X marks the spot at Arrowhead Stadium
As most in Austin already know, X marks the spot in the end zone. Xavier Worthy, that is.
The Texas ex and Kansas City Chiefs rookie dazzled the Arrowhead Stadium crowd with a scintillating preseason debut Saturday in a 24-23 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Worthy had already turned heads early in training camp with some over-the-shoulder catches. But to do it in a game — even against NFL backups — is another step in his progression.
In one quarter, Worthy had three catches for 62 yards and a run for 11 more. His 22-yard touchdown catch from backup Carson Wentz was merely a sign of things to come.
“It was good to see Worthy get started,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said afterward. “We had a couple different things in there to try and get him the ball just to get him started.”
Reid said having Worthy on the field, it could force defenses to shift around “to honor him” with coverages.
From the sideline, starter Patrick Mahomes was impressed. “That route wasn’t necessarily called for Xavier. It was kind of an alert versus that coverage, and it worked out perfectly,” he said.
Mahomes said the play design was to clear out defenders from certain space. The receiver then must win his one-on-one battle to get open.
“You can see that he ‘won’ and got that touchdown,” Mahomes said. “That’s good for me to see. Then maybe as the game goes on, as the year goes on, there will be a similar type of situation and know that he can win versus that one-on-one situation. That’s something you can put in the cabinet and maybe I can bring out later in the year.”
Worthy was slowed in May and June with a left hamstring injury that kept the 28th overall draft pick temporarily sidelined. It lingered longer than typical injuries and kept Worthy out of the Chiefs’ offseason program. So he was sidelined to playbook and film study.
“Me in college, I never missed a game, never had no injuries really,” Worthy said in mid-July. “It’s kind of frustrating, but I got a chance to learn and get better in a different way.”
Said Mahomes: “He was sitting there listening and absorbing that knowledge. You can tell he was picking it up quickly.”
After getting cleared to practice, Worthy jammed his finger trying to catch a pass, missed a few plays but shrugged off the scare as no big deal. Worthy said his only goal is to do his best. “Just be the best version of myself,” he said. “I feel like if I do that, I feel like I’ll be in a good spot.”
Worthy said he’s learning multiple positions to play wherever Reid asks.
Asked about the tempo of Reid’s NFL practices, the rookie said, “Shoot, it’s like a college training camp. I feel like there’s no better way to train for a training camp coming out of college.”
Worthy made himself one of the most dependable receivers at Texas the last three seasons. He finished his UT career with 2,755 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns.
