Chiefs reportedly drafted off of the Patrick Mahomes wishlist

The Kansas City Chiefs offense has sorely missed the days of dismantling defenses with speed. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes served as a bombardier in Andy Reid’s aerial attack, delivering downfield bombs to wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who simply jetted past secondaries. Hill’s speed was an integral part of the Chiefs offense — until he suddenly wasn’t.

When Hill was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2022, the explosive elements of the Chiefs offense slowly began to deteriorate. Although the Chiefs have won two consecutive Super Bowls without Hill, they've never been able to replace him. Instead, Kansas City had to adjust to a methodical, slow burn offense. 

The Chiefs traded up four spots with the Buffalo Bills to select Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Patrick Mahomes wanted Chiefs to draft Xavier Worthy

Worthy was the player that Mahomes wanted the Chiefs to draft, according to ESPN’s Jason Reid. Worthy drew national attention after he set a record at the NFL Scouting Combine with a 40-yard dash time of 4.21 seconds.

General manager Brett Veach has attempted to replenish offensive speed in recent years, but chasing the ghost of Tyreek Hill hasn’t worked out for the Chiefs so far. Poor drafting at the wide receiver position finally caught up to Kansas City in 2023. With inadequate pass protection and an underwhelming receiving corps, Mahomes was relegated to game management duties as the Chiefs leaned on their defense to win games. Evidently, Mahomes doesn’t want that to happen again. 

The Chiefs also signed wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown in free agency. Brown ran the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds before he was selected in the 2019 NFL Draft. The two speed-oriented wideouts will join a team that features second-year wideout Rashee Rice and future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce.

Although Worthy was emphatic about his ability to be more than just a fast receiver, general manager Brett Veach confirmed that the team’s wideout additions were about speed. 

“It's a speed game and the more speed you have on the field, the harder it is for defenses to take away different elements of the game,” Veach said. “Anytime you can add speed and add a guy with that type of versatility, I think you're going to be interested. Just our ability to play vertical and have speed on the field at all times and having Xavier and Hollywood ... I think as the season goes on here, I think we'll have just an offense that can attack in multiple different ways and always keep defenses guessing.”

Kansas City selected speedster Mecole Hardman over D.K. Metcalf in the 2019 NFL Draft — a move that Veach recently expressed regret about. Then, the Chiefs selected Skyy Moore in the 2022 NFL Draft. Moore, like Hardman, has underperformed. Wide receiver Rashee Rice, who was selected in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, showed promise in his rookie campaign, but his future is in doubt after an excessive speeding incident resulted in a six-vehicle crash this offseason. 

Veach will hope that he got it right this time. Otherwise, a third consecutive Super Bowl championship may be hard to capture.