KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Xavier Worthy told everyone important in his life — his family members, close friends and his former college coaches and teammates — what he believed would be the perfect team to join to start his NFL career.
“Everybody’s dream is to play with Patrick Mahomes, probably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time,” Worthy said late Thursday night while he donned a crisp new Kansas City Chiefs ball cap. “I’ve been calling it, been saying it since the beginning of (last season): I’m going to the Chiefs. Everybody thought the NFL was never going to let the Chiefs get to me, but I’m here. I’m excited just to be able to play with Pat.”
Worthy, a speedy receiver from Texas, was thrilled when his ideal scenario became reality when the Chiefs called him to inform him they selected him with the No. 28 pick.
The Chiefs, led by general manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid, demonstrated how much they wanted to acquire Worthy, too. Known for his aggressiveness during the draft, Veach executed a small trade to move the Chiefs up four spots from their original first-round pick. The surprising part of the deal was that the Chiefs called the Buffalo Bills — the AFC contender they’ve eliminated in the postseason in three of the past four years — to secure Worthy, the fifth receiver selected in the first round.
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The Chiefs sent the Nos. 32, 95 and 221 picks to Buffalo for picks 28, 133 and 248. Veach and Reid were eager to acquire another top pass catcher for Mahomes, especially with the status of second-year receiver Rashee Rice in question.
A 5-foot-11, 165-pounder, Worthy ran the 40-yard dash in a record-setting 4.21 seconds at the NFL combine. His speed was on display throughout his three seasons with the Longhorns. He finished third in school history with 26 touchdown receptions and generated the fourth-most career receiving yards (2,755). Worthy shared that his lone interview with the Chiefs in the months leading up to the draft came during the combine.
“It was just an amazing thing,” Worthy said. “Just knowing it was a possibility to go there, I just kept my hopes alive and it happened.”
The moment @XavierWorthy became a Kansas City Chief 💛 pic.twitter.com/LD3sFbWFnB
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 26, 2024
Last season, Worthy earned second-team All-America honors as a return specialist after leading the FBS in punt return yards (371), including a 74-yard touchdown. He was also named first-team All-Big 12 as both a receiver and return specialist. He recorded 75 receptions for 1,014 yards and five touchdowns.
Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s draft expert, had Worthy graded as the 50th overall prospect and the 10th-best receiver in this year’s class.
“Using his ability to weaponize his burst and breakaway speed, Worthy can win deep, separate out of breaks with full-speed route cuts or stick his foot in the ground and fly with the ball in his hands,” Brugler wrote in “The Beast.” “Despite being a blur across the field, though, just 18.7 percent of his catches in 2023 resulted in a 20-plus-yard play. He tracks the ball well, but he won’t win in many 50-50 situations and needs space at the catch point to be effective.”
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Mahomes reacted to the Chiefs’ selection of Worthy by posting a smiling face with sunglasses emoji on his X account. Led by Reid, the Chiefs have prioritized receivers with plenty of speed and explosiveness to produce highlight-worthy plays. Paired with Mahomes, along with tight end Travis Kelce attracting attention in the middle of the field, Worthy has the potential to be a big-play threat with his legitimate rare speed.
Since he was promoted to his role in July 2017, Veach had never selected a receiver with a first-round pick. One of the Chiefs’ biggest roster needs entering the draft was at receiver. Veach also understands that the Chiefs need to keep investing high-round picks into the position, considering Mahomes is in his prime and Kelce will be 35 in October.
In March during free agency, the Chiefs signed veteran Marquise Brown, who is also known for his rare speed, to a one-year contract.
“Having Xavier and Hollywood, I think, will make life easier for Travis and Rashee,” Veach said. “As the season goes on, we’ll have an offense that can attack in multiple different ways and always keep defenses guessing.”
Worthy could be the Chiefs’ third receiver on their depth chart, behind Brown and Rice. Worthy, though, will likely be relied on early in his rookie season. Rice is expected to be suspended for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after he was involved in a multi-vehicle crash in northeast Dallas last month, according to police. He was the driver of a Lamborghini sport utility vehicle that caused the crash, which created a chain-reaction collision involving four other vehicles, police said.
“When you have a guy that you have a vision for and that you like and you have a chance to do something, especially with a pick swap, it just made sense for us,” Veach said of trading up for Worthy. “Just the ability that we felt that he could grasp the offense and come in right away, I think, was probably the motivating factor for us to just go ahead and make sure we got him before we got hopped by potentially anybody else.”
Texas scored on the first play of the game 😳
Casey Thompson to Xavier Worthy for 75 yards 🤘
🎥 @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/wVwbbtYzp0
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 9, 2021
Veach explained last week during his pre-draft news conference that he hoped to trade up in the first round to acquire another star player.
In 2022, Veach moved the Chiefs up eight spots in the first round — leapfrogging the Bills — to select cornerback Trent McDuffie with the 21st pick.
In 2017, Veach had a prominent role in the Chiefs pulling off the greatest trade in franchise history: The team moved up 17 spots in the first round via a trade with the Bills to acquire the 10th pick to select Mahomes.
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“I think everyone goes into the process with their own list of priorities and what they want to do and accomplish,” Veach said of consummating another trade with the Bills. “They have done a great job over the years. I’m sure it made sense to them. They ended up making another (trade down) move there, too. We were on our own agenda. We saw value there.
“When you get to that point, and you’re so close, you’re always second-guessing yourself. It’s easy to say maybe if you sat there, (Worthy) would’ve been there at (32nd pick), but we saw teams move consistently after we picked.”
All smiles over here! pic.twitter.com/mJElZblU00
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 26, 2024
Veach and Reid believe adding a dynamic rookie such as Worthy should help the Chiefs offense regain its potency. Worthy will be the fastest player on the roster since the team had Tyreek Hill, the league’s fastest player. Worthy and Brown should help Mahomes connect more often on deep passes, an element that was mostly missing from the offense last season.
“It doesn’t hurt to have down-the-field speed,” Reid said. “We’ve functioned without the great speed down the field and done well. But if you have an opportunity to get somebody that you think is a good player, just not a speed guy, I think you probably need to take advantage of that.”
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When Veach and Reid evaluated Worthy on film, they didn’t think his skills were exactly comparable to Hill’s. Instead, Veach and Reid felt Worthy was more similar to DeSean Jackson, who played in 15 seasons in the NFL.
Reid and Veach have worked together for the past 17 years, first with the Philadelphia Eagles. One of Veach’s first successful assignments working with Reid came in 2008. Veach gave Reid as much information and film of Jackson as he could. Although he wasn’t a scout just yet, Veach understood how Jackson’s speed and elusiveness in the open field would complement Reid’s playbook. With the 49th pick that year, the Eagles selected Jackson, who was a two-time Pro Bowler under Reid.
“Seeing the success that Tyreek Hill had in this offense, I feel like it’ll be amazing,” Worthy said. He later added of Jackson: “Having the success (Jackson) had in this system with Andy Reid, it’s just amazing to be able to have a coach that actually gets you as a player and values you as a player because he had that player before.”
The routes from @XavierWorthy 🤌 pic.twitter.com/ioNWL1edbg
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) March 20, 2024
The biggest issue draft analysts had when evaluating Worthy was the concern that he weighed just 165 pounds at the combine.
Worthy led the Longhorns in receiving years in each of his three seasons and he never missed a game, finishing his college career with 2,752 yards. Since 2021, just two receiving prospects, Malik Nabers (LSU) and Rome Odunze (Washington), have generated more yards than Worthy.
“I think you’ll see this toughness he’s got, which jumped out at me (on film),” Reid said. “He’s got great football instincts, and he’s a tremendous worker. In this offense, you’ve got to be able to do that and have those characteristics.
“He’s smart with it, too. You don’t want him running into a wall and hurting himself. But at the same time, there’s a time when you’ve got to be able to go get it. He’s done that at (the college) level, but he’s got to do it at this level.”
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Working alongside Mahomes and the rest of his new teammates, Worthy wants to prove that he can be a dynamic receiver in all three areas of the field — short, intermediate and deep — by polishing his route running and demonstrating his ability to gain yards after the catch. He expects to get plenty of opportunities from Mahomes to showcase his durability and elite speed, too.
“I pride myself on being a difference-maker,” Worthy said. “I pride myself on heart. That’s what motivates me and makes me different.”
(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
