Chiefs say Xavier Worthy’s patience sparked his breakout. But here’s the real reason
The Chiefs’ starters have enjoyed a hibernation since Christmas Day, ballooning to a 24-day hiatus between Patrick Mahomes appearances by the time they open the playoffs Saturday against the Texans.
So head coach Andy Reid got a little creative in practice late last week. He pitted the starting defense against the starting offense, an exercise typically reserved for training camp. Which, as a result, meant that for the first time in months No. 1 cornerback Trent McDuffie saw a lot of rookie Xavier Worthy.
“You can tell his confidence is up,” McDuffie said of the contrast between Worthy in training camp and Worthy now, adding, “You can just tell that he’s someone who wants to be that person — he wants to be the No. 1. He wants the ball.”
A downfield specialist in August.
A player confident enough to be a No. 1 receiver in January.
Baked inside the Chiefs’ late-season offensive renaissance — a long-awaited renaissance — is the late-season emergence of Xavier Worthy.
How? Why? Matt Nagy, the Chiefs offensive coordinator, provided a pretty simple answer for it: “Xavier’s done a great job of staying patient the entire season,” he said.
That might be true — Worthy might have been patient in waiting for his breakout — but it’s not the primary reason the breakout arrived.
It’s patience, to be sure.
But the Chiefs’ patience.
Worthy was one of the worst receivers in football over a four-week stretch sandwiched into the middle of a 15-2 season. Or at least one of the least efficient.
That’s not hyperbole. In Weeks 7-10, Worthy caught only seven of his 18 targets (38.9%), the third-worst catch percentage in the league. Statistically, those seven receptions actually subtracted 6.37 expected points from the Chiefs offense, which is a fancier way of saying even his receptions were hurting the cause more than helping it.
When Patrick Mahomes threw a football Worthy’s way, his passer rating was 43.2.
And among the 101 wide receivers who caught at least five passes over that monthlong span, Worthy’s 3.1 yards per target ranked 101st.
Dead last.
You get the idea, right? It was bad.
Alas, the Chiefs’ solution: Let it ride.
They just kept playing him anyway — more than literally every other receiver on the roster, by the way.
This is an Xavier Worthy story on the surface, but at its core it’s an Andy Reid story. Because Worthy performed so poorly for a month straight that it provided Reid a question that transcends his team, this league and even the sport itself:
What do you do with a struggling player?
There’s not uniformity in the answer, by the way. The most common reply is the easiest: Bench him.
But the Chiefs’ response — Reid’s response — was driven by a different objective than most teams have. They’d never admit this publicly, but leaving Worthy on the field more than any receiver on their roster didn’t necessarily prioritize the best opportunity to win on Sunday — err, or on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. They prioritized the path that could prompt the best opportunity to win in January.
And now Worthy’s a part of that path.
An asset, no longer a liability.
In his second-to-last game of the season, Worthy established a new career high with seven catches, one of them going a touchdown. A week later, in his final appearance of the regular season, he caught eight more, another of them going for a touchdown.
It’s not a two-week surge. In the seven weeks on the back end of that dreadful month, Mahomes’ rating when targeting Worthy was 113.1.
It nearly tripled.
“It’s exactly what happened with Rashee (Rice) last year,” Nagy said. “I’m telling you: It’s crazy how similar it is. It’s exciting because you see what Rashee came into this year, what he did early on. And I think that’s the path for (Worthy).”
It’s not quite that statistically. Worthy is not putting up Pro Bowl numbers by any stretch.
But he’s a weapon. For two games, which just so happen to coincide with the best two performances for the Chiefs offense this season, Worthy has been their best weapon.
It’s a reward for the patience.
The Chiefs weren’t exactly flush with alternative options. It’s true. But it’s also true that this option was one of the least productive options in all of football.
They stuck with him anyway.
“As long as they’re willing to work, smart and have the skill that he has obviously, you just hang with it, and they’ll work through it,” Reid said. “They’ve got to see it (and) get those defenses down and the reads and routes and all that.”
The reason for the growth is important.
But what’s overlooked — and what’s just as impactful — is the willingness to let him work through it.
And the ability to let him work through it.
The Chiefs had the willingness to let him work through it.
It runs in contrast to the impatience that has come to define several other NFL teams, and the fact this NFL team has a head coach solidified in his job certainly helps.
But the inverse is also true: There’s a reason the head coach is solidified in the job. He trusts the reward will come, and he’s willing to wait on it.
Worthy is playing at a different speed than he did at the midway point in the season. His teammates could sense it in Buffalo in Week 11, ironically the only game the starters lost this season. His 4.21 speed started to flash on more than a vertical route.
To the outside observer, finally.
To those inside the room, a payoff.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM.