Xavier

Worthy

Worthy had a phenomenal one-handed catch that he caught through a Bills defender and appeared to trap to his arm as the ball hit the ground. It was called a catch on the field, and thus it had to stand — it was also the kind of play that Worthy never would have made at any point during a regular season marred with deep pass miscues and drops as the rookie figured out his timing. Worthy, clearly the Chiefs No. 1 wideout at this point, has been heavily focused in the horizontal game over the last seven weeks or so and has only the inevitable return of Rashee Rice haunting his potential PPR status in 2025. For the Super Bowl, at least, it looks to be Worthy’s show against the Eagles.

Worthy also “added” a -8 yard rush. Unfortunate, though Worthy’s higher volume role from the second half of the regular season carried right over into the playoffs. Worthy also compensated for the blown rush with a circus catch down the left sideline in the first quarter. Getting better but still not the game-breaker he was at Texas, Worthy profiles as an unlikely AFC Championship Game X-factor.

Carson Wentz will draw the start this week. Reid didn’t name every starter getting the day off, but our best guess for the list of names includes Travis Kelce, Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, DeAndre Hopkins, Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown. Expect others to make the cut as well. The Chiefs are massive underdogs to the Broncos this week, all but guaranteeing Denver a spot in the playoffs.

Worthy leaked out of the backfield for the first touchdown of the game. The 21-year-old rookie wasn’t able to pick up many big plays with a long of just 21, but the quality and quantity can’t disappoint fantasy players too much. We’ll see if Worthy plays much in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Broncos.

Worthy dinged up his ankle in Saturday’s win over the Texans but appears to be good to go for Week 17’s game against the Steelers, barring any setbacks. Worthy led the Chiefs with 7-65-1 on a team-high 11 targets and will be on the WR3 radar this week if active.

He added three carries for 10 yards on the ground. Worthy’s touchdown was rather elementary as the Texans, on their third nickelback of the day, simply had Kamari Lassiter too dialed in to Patrick Mahomes’ eyes to notice the width Worthy was getting. It was over before the ball was even thrown. Worthy added his (usual) end zone incompletion on a ball he couldn’t get his second foot inbounds on. This was an encouraging target line even with Hollywood Brown’s return, and Worthy can be counted on as a WR3 in Week 17 against the Steelers.

Brown practiced in full throughout the week and will now make his Chiefs debut on Saturday versus the Texans. The Chiefs will ease Brown back into the lineup, keeping him off the fantasy radar for Week 16. However, his return makes already thin bets in Xavier Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins that much worse for fantasy purposes. Hopkins has been a part-time player since joining the Chiefs and now there’s even more of a threat to his routes. Xavier Worthy, on the other hand, runs all of the routes but rarely sees WR1 usage. His 11-target outing in Week 15 will keep him in the WR3 ranks for Saturday’s matchup with Houston.

Amazingly, Worthy’s six catches were a new season high. The same is true of the rushing yardage, though the ground score was his third. Worthy took a short swing pass then got the edge for a 21-yard TD at the 12:59 mark of the third quarter. That would end up the Chiefs’ final score, but not their final notable play on offense. That would be Patrick Mahomes’ ankle injury, one that has him questionable for Saturday’s short-week matchup with the Texans. Even if Mahomes goes, Worthy still isn’t doing enough to crack the top 36 in fantasy.

Worthy had a rather pedestrian fantasy outing against the stout Chargers defense, particularly considering quarterback Patrick Mahomes attempted a robust 37 passes. Nine Kansas City pass-catchers were targeted by Mahomes, leaving only DeAndre Hopkins with more than the six targets seen by Worthy. Worthy’s next chance to return a usable fantasy score comes in Week 15 when the Chiefs take on the Browns.

He almost did it. Worthy managed a completely normal-looking 5/54/0 line on six targets where he was just a normal wideout with no hints of disappointment. He even caught a ball off the turf that was overturned in his favor by replay. But the Chiefs went for the jugular at the two-minute warning, sent Worthy deep, and the classic 2024 Worthy tale of an incomplete deep pass played yet again for us all. Worthy is a WR4 option in Week 14, but not one we’re particularly excited about against the Chargers.