Why Chiefs’ Xavier Worthy’s game against Chargers was more important than the obvious
Before Patrick Mahomes’ majestic 54-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, Mahomes told the warp-speed rookie receiver the highly sophisticated plan if they got the right look from a Chargers safety.
“I’m throwing it pretty much as far as I can and letting him go catch it,” Mahomes said with a smile Sunday night after the Chiefs improved to 4-0 with a 17-10 victory over the Chargers. “And that’s what he did.”
But there was a nuanced element to it all, reflective of Worthy’s rapid development in more ways than one. And it made possible the play that was more dazzling than even met the eye on a pass that was launched and landed so far away it was hard to tell if Mahomes could even see Worthy when he let it go.
NFL Next Gen Stats documented the sequence as Mahomes’ career longest completion by air distance (62.2 yards) while Worthy was zooming to a top speed of 21.46 mph — the third-fastest play by an NFL ball-carrier this season.
The obvious was so mesmerizing that it was hard not to oversimplify it; in a replay of the moment, CBS broadcast analyst Tony Romo imagined the Chiefs’ scheme thusly: “You’re the fastest player ever at the (NFL Combine, with a 4.21 40-yard dash). I want you to run straight through the defense.”
But here’s the twist.
It wasn’t merely pure athleticism on both ends, beautiful as that was.
It was delivered with an astute tweak that the poised and precocious Worthy actually suggested to Mahomes.
On the sideline earlier, Worthy said he broached the prospect of that play and told Mahomes he was going to “stutter a little bit at the top of the route.”
“And it worked. It worked out just like that,” Worthy said. “Which is crazy.”
Watch the replay, and you’ll see Chargers’ defender Kristian Fulton lose his cushion in just the semi-step he lost in the process — a step Worthy suggested he may not really have needed.
“I feel like I would have had it if I had just run straight,” he said, smiling into a laugh as he added, “but the stutter just added a little bit of sauce to it.”
The Chiefs were seeking that extra sauce, not to mention dimension, when they selected the former Texas Longhorn 28th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
In the wake of a disillusioning season out of their receiving unit that helped render the Chiefs’ offense ordinary despite Mahomes, they also signed high-profile free-agent Hollywood Brown to join with flourishing second-year man Rashee Rice as the presumptive prime targets along with tight end Travis Kelce.
Within that context, Worthy figured to be able to gradually grow into the flow of the notably complicated offense — which helps explain why he has only been targeted for 15 passes in the first four games.
But a lot now looks different than it was initially scripted.
Brown suffered a clavicle injury on the Chiefs’ first play from scrimmage in their first preseason game, and Rice sustained that freak knee injury on Sunday.
Brown will be out for months yet, and Rice figures to be out for at least weeks: The Chiefs as of Monday had not publicly elaborated on the specifics of Rice’s injury beyond coach Andy Reid saying they were “still testing him on things.”
Which means the Chiefs also will figure to be testing Worthy on more things.
In part because of the necessity, but in part because of his nimble apprehension of the system … and resolve to be more than a one-trick wonder.
That was on display Sunday, too.
Both of his other receptions were on pivotal plays — one a diving 4-yard catch on third-and-2 to extend the drive that enabled Harrison Butker’s tying field goal and the other for 15 yards that put the game away on third-and-6 with 2:22 left.
Each was emblematic of how his game is expanding right along with the equally vital trust from Mahomes, who used the term “big-time” separately to describe both Worthy’s TD and the third-down conversions.
“He’s a great football player, and I think he’s just getting more and more comfortable within the offense,” Mahomes said. “I think when I go back to the tape, I feel like there’s going to be a couple more that I thought about taking those chances (on) and I think he ended up winning.
“As I build comfortability with him, I’ll keep taking those chances. And when he makes plays like that, like he did today, he’ll give me that ability to shoot him and let him go out there and make one-on-one catches.”
The ever-restrained Reid, who after Worthy’s exhilarating two touchdowns in the opener gushed that “he can run,” was similarly understated about Sunday.
“I thought Xavier showed what he could do,” said Reid, who like Mahomes noted “a couple other potential opportunities that we weren’t quite able to get to him.
“But you got a chance to at least see him operate out there and do some nice things as one of the primary receivers.”
Whether that means the Chiefs will immediately funnel much more his way is a matter of conjecture.
While they surely will blend him in further, they also don’t figure to overdo it.
After all, quick study that he is, Worthy still is learning. He’s also still only 21 years old and somewhat slight at about 165 pounds on a frame that seems generously listed as 5-foot-11 … a reality that you can only imagine will be a factor as opponents become increasingly attuned to jamming up his releases.
Meanwhile, along with Kelce, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer who also enjoyed a strong day Sunday, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Justin Watson and Mecole Hardman present viable options for the Chiefs — who by all logic will be looking to acquire other appealing alternatives.
“We’ve got guys here that have the experience of playing in the game, so it’s not that (Worthy is) the only one,” Reid said. “(He) doesn’t have to be the only one. We’ve got a good group of guys there that we can utilize.
“We normally spread the ball around, and that’s what we’ll continue to strive to do.”
Just the same and, really, just in time, Worthy is illustrating why Mahomes said at the opening of training camp there should be “no easing” in of Worthy as he returned from an offseason hamstring injury.
And why offensive coordinator Matt Nagy went wacky with a fist-pumping, high-stepping celebration of a 60-yard Mahomes-Worthy connection early in training camp.
Even amid that commotion, though, Mahomes saw there was something more emerging in Worthy than just the sizzle.
For one thing, the ability to track the deep ball is an entirely different talent than sheer speed — as we’ve seen with any number of players over the years. Worthy has a knack for making what Mahomes in August called “as tough a job as any … in the world, because you can catch the ball and get your cleats knocked off you.”
Moreover, Mahomes promptly took note that Worthy was “not just a speed guy but someone who plays tough (and) runs great routes.”
And now he’s someone who already has enough of an apparent comfort and chemistry with Mahomes to maximize his moments — as he flashed on Sunday in more ways than one.