Chiefs’ 1st-round pick Xavier Worthy exits OTAs with injury

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has told reporters that wide receiver Xavier Worthy has exited organized team activities due to a hamstring injury.

“He didn’t practice today, he tweaked his hamstring the other day,” Reid said, via the Chiefs’ YouTube page.

The good news is that Reid apparently saw some great things from Worthy when he was on the field.

“But what we saw was somebody that was smart, understood what was being thrown at him, and somebody that can run pretty fast,” Reid said. “We just basically got through the introduction stuff to him, so he was only out there for a day and a half, so he got a nice introduction to things.”

Patrick Mahomes feels the same way about the first-year pass-catcher.

“You can tell how intelligent he is,” Mahomes said, via Charles Goldman of A to Z Sports. “He’s asking the right questions. Before the hamstring injury he was getting the work in … just being precautionary, he could probably get back out there right now if he really wanted to.”

Kansas City selected Worthy with the 28th overall pick of the NFL Draft last month and traded up to get him.

The University of Texas product is coming off of a terrific 2023 campaign in which he hauled in 75 receptions for 1,014 yards and five touchdowns.

Worthy ran a record-breaking 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine, so the Chiefs may be hoping he could be the second coming of Tyreek Hill.

It hasn’t exactly been the best month for Worthy, either. Not only did he just get hurt, but his car was also stolen last week.

Xavier Worthy needs to provide the Chiefs with some much-needed help at receiver

The Chiefs may have won their second straight Super Bowl this past season, but it wasn’t like it was easy.

Mahomes actually struggled at various points throughout the year due much in part to the fact that Kansas City was very short on weapons. Outside of Rashee Rice, the Chiefs did not have any truly reliable wide outs, forcing Mahomes to rely heavily on Rice and tight end Travis Kelce.

Kansas City has attempted to rectify that problem this offseason, signing Marquise Brown in free agency and then drafting Worthy.

However, Rice has gotten himself into some pretty serious legal trouble and is facing a potential lengthy suspension from the NFL, which could ultimately put the Chiefs back at square one if Worthy does not have a productive rookie campaign.

Worthy’s slight frame (he weighs around 160 pounds) is a bit worrisome for Kansas City, and the fact that he has already gotten injured is not exactly a great sign moving forward. Hopefully for the Chiefs, it’s just a one-time thing and he can recover.

Assuming Rice will be unavailable in the early stages of 2024, Kansas City will probably employ Brown as its No. 1 receiver, and Worthy may very well step into the No. 2 spot. After all, Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore have been massive disappointments, and the Chiefs surely wouldn’t feel too comfortable with Justin Watson in that role.

For that reason, it is vitally important that Worthy remains healthy next season. Heck, the same argument can be made for Brown, who missed eight games over his final two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.

Mahomes is good enough to win without elite receiver help. We saw that last year. But he would obviously prefer better supporting talent around him in 2024 so he doesn’t have to improvise as much this time around.