After being selected by the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs with the No. 28 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, former Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy has reportedly hit the ground running with his new team, receiving praise from multiple members of the organization who have had a chance to work with him thus far.
Jesse Newell of The Kansas City Star notes that Worthy has been a standout during Kansas City's rookie minicamp based on intel he has gathered from the likes of Chiefs backup quarterback Chris Oladokun, sixth-round pick Kamal Hadden, and even head coach Andy Reid, which should strike fear into the eyes of the rest of the league.
Chiefs first impressions of Xavier Worthy are downright terrifying for the rest of the NFL
Oladokun lauded Worthy for his well-documented speed and ability to compliment it with precise route running and steady hands, citing one specific play where the latter seemingly caught him by surprise with how open he was and where he was on the field.
“He [Worthy] spun the guy (his defender) like a top,” Oladokun said, per Newell. “He was already 50 yards downfield, and this is right after me getting out of a play-fake. And so I sort of saw him and was like, ‘Oh, let me just get him the ball.’”
However, Newell points out that Worthy was so far down the gridiron that Oladokun underthrew him, forcing the Texas product to stop in his tracks and come down with the long ball.
Hadden, a fellow rookie who has matched up against Worthy numerous times thus far, called him a "great" receiver, acknowledging that there is more to his game than his record-setting 40-yard dash speed. “The speed is one thing, but I feel like he runs great routes," he said.
Perhaps the most significant remarks came from Worthy's head coach: “I thought he [Worthy] did a nice job picking things up and working through,” Reid said. “We asked him to do a whole lot of stuff there. He was put in most of the primary spots. So it was good for him to get in there and move around a little bit.”
Reid's willingness to deploy Worthy across the formation this early into his brief NFL career is eye-opening and music to the ears of Kansas City fans and quarterback Patrick Mahomes as the franchise looks to become the first time in league history to win three straight Super Bowls. But if you are not a member of the Chiefs Kingdom, you should be terrified of what this means for his short and long-term outlook.