Patrick Mahomes Says There's No 'Easing' into Offense for Xavier Worthy

At the first day of arrivals for training camp, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid spoke about early expectations for rookie wideout Xavier Worthy.

Texas Longhorns wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) celebrates a play in the fourth quarter of the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semi-finals at the Ceasars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jan. 1, 2024. The Huskies won the game 37-31. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA

For some members of the Kansas City Chiefs, the slow period of the offseason is over. For others, that time is coming later this week when veterans get to St. Joseph, Missouri. On Tuesday, though, rookies and quarterbacks were joined by head coach Andy Reid as the first to report to the campus at Missouri Western State University.

The highlight player for this week's slate of camp, as it was for much of the offseason, is rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy. The No. 28 overall selection in April's NFL Draft hasn't made much of an impact in his first professional offseason due to a nagging hamstring injury. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy has preached the importance of mental reps for the Texas product, but that's far from the same thing as live action in practice.

Now present and healthy, Worthy is expected to work with his teammates this week. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes says there's no time to ease the rookie in, instead doubling down on the need for preparation.

"I mean, there's no easing," Mahomes said. "He's going to have to be ready to go. We've got a lot of competition on this offense. Brett Veach and Coach Reid did a great job bringing a lot of competition in. Xavier, he got a lot of mental work in these last few weeks that he had during OTAs and minicamp, but it's time to go now. You all saw it with Rashee (Rice) last year and some of the throwing-up days he had. We're going to push you to the limit and prepare yourself to be ready to go for the season. That's not just him, that's everybody, and everybody has to have that mentality when they come into camp."

Reid also spoke about Worthy's progress, citing the 21-year-old's competitive nature as a plus.

"He's looking forward to it, actually, I think," Reid said. "He wants to get in there and go. It was driving him crazy to have to watch. You don't want to be the No. 1 pick, come in and be sitting on the bench and watching. He's a competitive kid who wants to be in there. We're going to get him going. We've just got to see how he's doing here and like I said, in this rookie camp, these lines are short so they're going to get plenty of reps. You just don't want him re-hurting the thing and setting himself back."

Expectations are high for Worthy, who shined during the pre-draft process and broke the NFL Scouting Combine record for running the fastest 40-yard dash. During his final season with the Longhorns, he hauled in 75 passes for 1,014 yards and five touchdowns. He has track star-level speed, but it's mixed with a pure football IQ and receiver skills that made him a presumed shoo-in for the first round.

Now weeks removed from his injury, Worthy will hit the ground running (both literally and figuratively) in training camp. Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, the aforementioned Rice and possibly even Justin Watson could compete with him for premium snaps. That's without even mentioning options like Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney, Mecole Hardman or Nikko Remigio who are hungry for reps. Whatever Worthy gets moving forward in terms of workload will be earned.

That's where the bar has been set. It's all systems go for the back-to-back champs, and Reid is excited to see what Worthy and the rest of his first-year players can do prior to veterans reporting.

"This is great," Reid said. "I think it's great for all these guys just to get in and become familiar. Go through it one more time before the veterans get in and everything is going 100 miles per hour. It's slowed down, they'll get the same install – the first three installs – for when the vets get in. I think it's a real positive for everybody, especially Xavier, who didn't have the opportunity to be on the field. Just going through those routes and doing what he needs to do there will also be positive."

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