Opting to downgrade in huge receiver expertise upon buying and selling Tyreek Hill in 2022, the Chiefs managed tremendous with out the All-Professional weapon. The staff is using back-to-back Tremendous Bowl wins. Nevertheless, the wideout points from final season clearly performed a lead function in Kansas Metropolis’s 2024 offseason plan.
The staff signed Marquise Brown to a one-year deal and additional bolstered its receiving corps with a first-round trade-up for Texas’ Xavier Worthy. He of a Mix-record 4.21-second 40-yard sprint, Worthy will probably be anticipated to infuse Kansas Metropolis’s passing sport with a long-range improve. The Chiefs and Worthy moved previous one offseason hurdle Wednesday, with NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reporting the perimeters have agreed to phrases on the receiver’s rookie contract.
Worthy is now signed via the 2027 season, and the Chiefs have a fifth-year choice on the participant chosen twenty eighth general. The deal is absolutely assured. Worthy is the primary Spherical 1 wideout the Chiefs have chosen throughout Andy Reid‘s tenure and the franchise’s first since Jonathan Baldwin in 2011. Worthy will enter the NFL in a significantly higher scenario, having Reid calling the photographs and Patrick Mahomestargeting him.
The previous Longhorns standout generated curiosity from a number of groups. The Patriots made an effort to maneuver up for Worthy; they’re believed to have offered the Payments a proposal for No. 28. The Chiefs’ supply to climb up from No. 32 clearly impressed the Payments extra, as they had been keen to maneuver right down to accommodate the staff that has knocked them out of the playoffs in three of the previous 4 seasons. Kansas Metropolis’s commerce allowed Buffalo to leap up 38 spots (to No. 95) and transfer up in Spherical 7 as nicely. Whereas many have questioned the Payments for permitting this, the perennial AFC East champs clearly didn’t have Worthy too excessive on their board. Nevertheless, Worthy’s progress in Missouri will highlight the Payments’ alternative.
Worthy’s measurement probably offered a problem for some groups; he checked in at 5-foot-11 and 165 kilos. The 4.21 expertise didn’t function purely as a downfield producer with the Longhorns, although it is going to be attention-grabbing to see how his body interprets to the NFL. The Chiefs are banking on the coach that drafted DeSean Jackson 16 years in the past boosting Worthy, as each the staff’s high WR acquisitions are diminutive targets; Brown goes 5-9, 180.
Worthy brings each a robust physique of labor and an explosive last faculty season. Final yr, the Texas speedster caught 75 passes for 1,014 yards and 5 touchdowns. That was Worthy’s just one,000-yard season, however he topped 750 in each his different faculty campaigns and mixed for 21 TDs from 2021-22. Texas noticed its high two receivers drafted within the first two rounds, with Adonai Mitchell going off the board in Spherical 2 (Colts). Worthy led the CFP semifinalist in yardage, whereas Mitchell paced the Massive 12 in receiving TDs.
Though the Chiefs prevailed in Tremendous Bowl LVIII, they handled inconsistency at WR all through 2023. Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (playoff contributions apart) proved largely unreliable. Toney stays within the staff’s plans, although it’s unclear for the way for much longer, whereas Rashee Rice — the staff’s lead WR final season — is headed for a probable suspension. A Rice ban would put extra stress on the Chiefs’ new wideouts to choose up the slack through the upcoming three-peat effort.
