The Kansas City Chiefs entered the 2025-26 NFL season with their eyes on avenging their embarrassing loss in Super Bowl LIX to the Philadelphia Eagles. That revenge tour did not get off on the right foot in Week 1 when they lost to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil and lost a key offensive weapon in the process.
Wide receiver Xavier Worthy suffered a shoulder injury after colliding with tight end Travis Kelce in the first quarter on Friday. He was forced to leave the game and did not return. Head coach Andy Reid provided reporters with an update on his condition Tuesday but Chiefs fans won't like what he had to say.
“So, as far as the injuries go, I know Xavier’s going to be the big question,” he said in a news conference. “He’s rehabbing and working his shoulder, we’ll just see where it goes. Day-by-day here, see where we end up.”
Xavier Worthy's injury throws a wrench in Chiefs revenge tour plans
Despite having no Worthy in Friday's game, QB Patrick Mahomes was able to target other options like wideout Hollywood Brown (10 catches, 99 yards) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (five catches, 55 yards). Kelce scored the team's lone receiving touchdown, but going forward there's not much versatility left in the Kansas City offense.
Worthy provided a much needed burst of speed that kept defenses guessing. Without him in the lineup for the time being and Rashee Rice suspended through Week 6, the Chiefs may be looking at a tough stretch of games if their defense doesn't improve mightily.
There's always rookie Jalen Royals to look to but it's unclear if he'll be available in Week 2 as he's still recovering from a knee injury himself.
“Jalen’s doing a good job with his rehab,” Reid said Tuesday. “Again, we’ll just see how that ends up this week. We’ve got a couple days here that we’ve had, so guys are making good progress in that. We’ll see. If neither [Worthy nor Royals] play, we’ve got the guys we played with the other night that are good football players.”
Reid has to be publicly optimistic considering he's won multiple Super Bowls in the last few seasons with those guys. But Sunday's Super Bowl LIX rematch against the Eagles at home is going to be a super tough test. Kansas City has a real chance of starting the year 0-2.