Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy (8) celebrates a touchdown that put Texas up 7-0 over West Virginia during the game at Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas on Oct. 1, 2022. Xxx Austex10 Jpg Usa Tx
KC Chiefs Take First-Round WR Xavier Worthy in Recent 2024 NFL Mock Draft
The 2023 NFL season isn't even here yet, and the 2024 NFL Draft is already fresh on the minds of many. Prime mock draft season is still months away but with that said, some way-too-early ones are providing looks at next year's crop of draft-eligible talent.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, general manager Brett Veach is coming off a 2022 draft class that played a pivotal role in the club's Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles. His 2023 class is a seven-player group filled with a combination of possible year-one impact and also some significant upside. Veach's reputation as a drafter has been on the rise over the last couple of years, and he'll need to continue nailing his picks if Kansas City wants to keep its championship window wide open.
With plenty of projected needs next offseason, the 2024 draft class will undoubtedly be relied upon to fill in some of the eventual cracks on the Chiefs' roster. In a recent mock draft for ESPN, Jordan Reid's early first-round predictions concluded with Kansas City being on the clock at No. 32 and taking University of Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Here's more from Reid on why he decided on this pairing between player and team:
Electing to take the non-pricey route at wide receiver paid off for the Chiefs last season, and drafting a pass-catcher in Round 1 next April makes sense. Worthy would bring an explosive skill set to Kansas City for Patrick Mahomes. He needs to gain mass at 6-foot and 160 pounds, but he plays the game in a different gear. He recorded 12 catches that gained 20 or more yards last season, and I could see him eventually taking over Marquez Valdes-Scantling's role for the Chiefs.
Potential needs: S, WR, DL
Worthy, who is listed on the Texas website as 6-foot-1, 164 pounds, has a combined 122 receptions for 1,741 yards and 21 touchdowns over the course of his first two seasons with the Longhorns. The California native also returned 15 punts this past year in addition to his role as a wideout. This past season, the 2022 second-team All-Big 12 receiver posted the seventh-highest average depth of target among all Power Five pass-catchers at 17.6 yards. He's an intriguing vertical threat with serious yards-after-catch potential.
The Chiefs have dealt with their fair share of smaller-type receivers in the past but if pre-draft testing shows that Worthy is a legitimate 6-foot (or even the school's listed 6-foot-1) and managed to put on some weight, he could begin to shoot up some franchise's respective boards. Kansas City projects to have Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore and current rookie Rashee Rice leading the way in 2024, but the aforementioned Valdes-Scantling is also still under contract for that year as well. Does adding Worhy into the fold make sense? Reid believes so.
