Xavier Worthy has had a solid rookie season. He led Kansas City with 9 TDs in the regular season, and he’s caught 18 more passes than any other wide receiver on that roster. But he’s made surprisingly few impact catches on downfield balls.
The speed, of course, is legendary. He ran a record 4.21 at the combine. With that speed, you would figure he’d be sneaking deep for long touchdowns regularly. But it hasn’t happened.
Early on, it seemed like it might. Worthy caught a 35-yard touchdown (against Baltimore) in his first game, and he got deep for a 54-yard bomb in Week 4 against the Chargers. But he’s had only 2 other catches of 20-plus yards all year – a 31-yarder at Buffalo, and a 21-yard catch at Pittsburgh on Christmas.
But too many of those plays haven’t worked. Opponents respect that speed, making it harder for Worthy to get behind defenses, and he’s a smaller receiver who’s not good at coming down with contested balls (though he had a real nice catch against Houston last week).
For various reasons, 19 other deep balls thrown in Worthy’s direction have fallen incomplete. So he ended his rookie season catching only 3 of 22 deep balls (the catch at Pittsburgh wasn’t a deep shot but instead a short catch that turned into a 21-yard play).
Hollywood Brown nearly came up with a long catch against Houston. I would think he’s more likely than Worthy to catch a long touchdown on Sunday.
A lot more of Worthy’s work has come around the line of scrimmage. He’s run for 3 TDs, and they’ve thrown him shorter balls, hoping he can create after the catch. Only one of those balls (at Pittsburgh) has turned into a gain of 20-plus yards.
Ultimately, Worthy averaged only 10.8 yards per catch in the regular season. There were 50 wide receivers who caught at least 50 passes in the regular season, and all but one of them had more 20-yard receptions than Worthy. All but three had twice as many 20-yard catches.
Hard to believe, but that 4.21 speed has been hard for Kansas City to utilize.
| WIDE RECEIVERS: CATCHES OF 20-PLUS YARDS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | 20+ | Pct |
| 1. | Darnell Mooney, Atl. | 64 | 992 | 15.5 | 5 | 21 | 32.8% |
| 2. | DK Metcalf, Sea. | 66 | 992 | 15.0 | 5 | 20 | 30.3% |
| 3. | Calvin Ridley, Ten. | 64 | 1017 | 15.9 | 4 | 19 | 29.7% |
| 4. | Jameson Williams, Det. | 58 | 1001 | 17.3 | 7 | 17 | 29.3% |
| 5. | George Pickens, Pitt. | 59 | 900 | 15.3 | 3 | 17 | 28.8% |
| 6. | Jayden Reed, G.B. | 55 | 857 | 15.6 | 6 | 15 | 27.3% |
| 7. | Justin Jefferson, Min. | 103 | 1533 | 14.9 | 10 | 28 | 27.2% |
| 8. | Zay Flowers, Balt. | 74 | 1059 | 14.3 | 4 | 19 | 25.7% |
| 9. | A.J. Brown, Phil. | 67 | 1079 | 16.1 | 7 | 17 | 25.4% |
| 10. | Marvin Harrison, Ari. | 62 | 885 | 14.3 | 8 | 14 | 22.6% |
| 11. | Quentin Johnston, LAC | 55 | 711 | 12.9 | 8 | 12 | 21.8% |
| 12. | Courtland Sutton, Den. | 81 | 1081 | 13.3 | 8 | 17 | 21.0% |
| 13. | Brian Thomas, Jac. | 87 | 1282 | 14.7 | 10 | 18 | 20.7% |
| 14. | Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 58 | 744 | 12.8 | 2 | 12 | 20.7% |
| 15. | Jordan Addison, Min. | 63 | 875 | 13.9 | 9 | 13 | 20.6% |
| 16. | Nico Collins, Hou. | 68 | 1006 | 14.8 | 7 | 14 | 20.6% |
| 17. | DeVonta Smith, Phil. | 68 | 833 | 12.3 | 8 | 14 | 20.6% |
| 18. | Mike Evans, T.B. | 74 | 1004 | 13.6 | 11 | 15 | 20.3% |
| 19. | Deebo Samuel, S.F. | 51 | 670 | 13.1 | 3 | 10 | 19.6% |
| 20. | Davante Adams, L.V.-NYJ | 85 | 1063 | 12.5 | 8 | 16 | 18.8% |
| 21. | Jakobi Meyers, L.V. | 87 | 1027 | 11.8 | 4 | 16 | 18.4% |
| 22. | Ladd McConkey, LAC | 82 | 1149 | 14.0 | 7 | 15 | 18.3% |
| 23. | Tank Dell, Hou. | 51 | 667 | 13.1 | 3 | 9 | 17.6% |
| 24. | Michael Pittman, Ind. | 69 | 808 | 11.7 | 3 | 12 | 17.4% |
| 25. | Tee Higgins, Cin. | 73 | 911 | 12.5 | 10 | 12 | 16.4% |
| 26. | Tyreek Hill, Mia. | 81 | 959 | 11.8 | 6 | 13 | 16.0% |
| 27. | CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 101 | 1194 | 11.8 | 6 | 16 | 15.8% |
| 28. | Garrett Wilson, NYJ | 101 | 1104 | 10.9 | 7 | 16 | 15.8% |
| 29. | Jauan Jennings, S.F. | 77 | 975 | 12.7 | 6 | 12 | 15.6% |
| 30. | Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 127 | 1708 | 13.4 | 17 | 19 | 15.0% |
| 31. | Cooper Kupp, LAR | 67 | 710 | 10.6 | 6 | 10 | 14.9% |
| 32. | Rome Odunze, Chi. | 54 | 734 | 13.6 | 3 | 8 | 14.8% |
| 33. | Malik Nabers, NYG | 109 | 1204 | 11.0 | 7 | 16 | 14.7% |
| 34. | Terry McLaurin, Was. | 82 | 1096 | 13.4 | 13 | 12 | 14.6% |
| 35. | Jerry Jeudy, Cle. | 90 | 1229 | 13.7 | 4 | 13 | 14.4% |
| 36. | Chris Godwin, T.B. | 50 | 576 | 11.5 | 5 | 7 | 14.0% |
| 37. | Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 100 | 1130 | 11.3 | 6 | 14 | 14.0% |
| 38. | Puka Nacua, LAR | 79 | 990 | 12.5 | 3 | 11 | 13.9% |
| 39. | Josh Downs, Ind. | 72 | 803 | 11.2 | 5 | 10 | 13.9% |
| 40. | Ray-Ray McCloud, Atl. | 62 | 686 | 11.1 | 1 | 8 | 12.9% |
| 41. | Keenan Allen, Chi. | 70 | 744 | 10.6 | 7 | 9 | 12.9% |
| 42. | Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 115 | 1263 | 11.0 | 12 | 14 | 12.2% |
| 43. | Demario Douglas, N.E. | 66 | 621 | 9.4 | 3 | 8 | 12.1% |
| 44. | Drake London, Atl. | 100 | 1271 | 12.7 | 9 | 12 | 12.0% |
| 45. | Khalil Shakir, Buff. | 76 | 821 | 10.8 | 4 | 9 | 11.8% |
| 46. | DJ Moore, Chi. | 98 | 966 | 9.9 | 6 | 11 | 11.2% |
| 47. | DeAndre Hopkins, Ten.-K.C. | 56 | 610 | 10.9 | 5 | 6 | 10.7% |
| 48. | Elijah Moore, Cle. | 61 | 538 | 8.8 | 1 | 5 | 8.2% |
| 49. | Xavier Worthy, K.C. | 59 | 638 | 10.8 | 6 | 4 | 6.8% |
| 50. | Wan'Dale Robinson, NYG | 93 | 699 | 7.5 | 3 | 4 | 4.3% |
—Ian Allan