Kansas City Chiefs Rookie Wide Receiver Xavier Worthy Suffers Hamstring Injury

The Kansas City Chiefs have suffered a setback with their most important draft pick. Speaking with the media on Wednesday, head coach Andy Reid revealed that rookie wide receiver and 2024 first-round pick Xavier Worthy "tweaked his hamstring" and is not practicing at organized team activities.

Xavier Worthy tweaked his hamstring the other day, per Andy Reid. He was not practicing today at OTAs. Only got about a day and a half of work in before being sidelined.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) May 22, 2024

Worthy, the 28th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, is slotted for a crucial role on the Chiefs this season, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding Rashee Rice. Measuring in at 5'11" and 165 lbs at the 2024 NFL Combine, Rice already had questions about his durability coming into the league, so missing crucial time this early into his career is a frustrating development. Still, it's better for Worthy to be unavailable now than later in the year.

Despite their Super Bowl win, the Chiefs offense struggled at times in 2023: their 28 giveaways tied for seventh most in the league, and their 21.8 points per game were the fewest for a Super Bowl champion since the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers.

With his otherworldly speed (he set an all-time record with his 4.21 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Combine), Worthy is perhaps the greatest x-factor the Chiefs offense has heading into the 2024 season. The Chiefs have been searching for the next Tyreek Hill for years: they spent second-round picks on undersized, blazing-fast wide receivers Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman in 2022 and 2019, but neither has materialized as a reliable starter thus far.

If Worthy can succeed where Moore and Hardman haven't, the Chiefs offense should climb back into the upper echelons of the NFL's elite. If not, their receiving corps could be their biggest impediment to securing a third-straight championship.