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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff WriterSep 30, 2024, 02:42 PM ET
- Covered Chiefs for 20 seasons for Kansas City Star
- Joined ESPN in 2013
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Xavier Worthy at 21 years old suddenly finds himself as the Kansas City Chiefs‘ top wide receiver after they’ve lost Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice to injuries.
Worthy, the Chiefs’ first-round draft pick, leads the team’s healthy wideouts in catches (9), yards (154) and touchdowns (2).
But coach Andy Reid said the Chiefs plan to spread the ball around to all of their receivers rather than ask Worthy alone to make up for the lost production in the absence of Rice, who injured his right knee in the Chiefs’ win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
“We’ve got guys here that have experience of playing in the game,” Reid said. “It’s not that he’s the only one, doesn’t have to be the only one. We’ve got a good group of guys there that we can utilize, and we normally spread the ball around and that’s what we’ll continue to strive to do.”
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Reid said the Chiefs didn’t have all of the results from tests given to Rice to confirm the extent of the injury, but he ruled the receiver out for the game against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night. Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday that Rice is feared to have suffered a torn ACL.
Worthy had three catches for 73 yards against the Chargers. One was a 54-yard touchdown, the other a 15-yard reception on third down late in the game that allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock.
“I thought Xavier showed what he could do,” Reid said. “He had a couple other potential opportunities there 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.
Reid suggested JuJu Smith-Schuster and Skyy Moore were two wide receivers who could get more playing time. Smith-Schuster, the Chiefs’ leading wide receiver in 2022, re-signed with the Chiefs over the summer after being released by the New England Patriots.
“Pat [Mahomes] has got a lot of trust in him,” Reid said. “He’s still a good football player.”
Moore, a second-round draft pick in 2022, has yet to develop into a consistently reliable receiver. He’s dropped a number of passes, including one against the Chargers.
“He’s given us some good downs,” Reid said. “He had the one drop yesterday on the third down that he knows he has to make, but he’s given us some good downs over these four games so we’re OK there.”
Tight end Travis Kelce had his most productive game of the season against the Chargers, catching seven passes for 89 yards.
“It was good to see that, which we knew was going to happen somewhere along here,” Reid said. “They played quite a bit of zone, allowed [Kelce] to work in zones, and they weren’t squeezing him on that.”
The Chiefs, who are also missing injured running back Isiah Pacheco, also got a boost from Kareem Hunt, who played in his first game since signing. Hunt led the Chiefs in rushing with 69 yards.
“We all had a lot of trust in Kareem since he had been here and we kind of know how he’s wired and he’s been able to pick stuff up pretty quick,” Reid said. “So, I think we’re OK there increasing [his workload].”
