Breaking Down the Chiefs' Rashee Rice-Xavier Worthy Duo: Is It Enough?

Instead of signing or trading for a big-name wide receiver or adding one in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs are running it back with three names from a year ago. This season's wideout rotation is very top-heavy, and none of the three leading options is a lock to produce at the level of expectation.

The duo of Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy, in particular, could make or break the floor and ceiling of this Chiefs team. Coming off a 2025-26 season that saw the former miss time due to suspension and the latter battle injury, there's plenty of uncertainty entering a new campaign.

There's a world where both Rice and Worthy deliver valuable contributions and things work to near-perfection, but what does that look like? Joshua Brisco, Seth Keysor and Nate Taylor discussed that and more on a July episode of the Only Weird Games podcast on KC Sports Network.

Rashee Rice's Strengths and Weaknesses Are Clear

Before his serious knee injury in 2024, some folks in Chiefs circles propped Rice up as a potential top-10 player at his position. Although volume-based output made that case in Weeks 1-3, that tape and his 2025 efforts made it clear that his skill set is defined. That isn't necessarily a slight or a compliment.

At his best, Rice is impacting the game on short and intermediate targets with space to maneuver. He's making the most of his athleticism and slippery post-catch chops to generate additional yards. The numbers back that up, as he has a career 4.7-yard average depth of target but nets 8.0 YAC (including 7.8 in consecutive years).

According to Pro Football Focus, Rice's NFL game logs see him line up in the slot and out wide at nearly a 50-50 split. In 2025, 75.4% of his targets were either behind the line of scrimmage or within nine yards of it. Add in some off-the-field issues, and you get the complete picture.

Rice isn't a WR1 for most teams. That's his reality in K.C., but expect more of the same good-but-not-great player in 2026.

Will the Real Xavier Worthy Please Stand Up?

The Worthy situation is more interesting. After a 59-catch, 638-yard, six-touchdown debut season, his numbers fell across the board in 2025. A large chunk of that could be chalked up to a Week 1 shoulder injury and then an ankle ailment that left him sapped of some explosiveness, but Worthy played in 14 games and was deemed healthy enough to stay in the lineup for the most part.

Last year, Worthy did far more of his damage before the catch, evidenced by his 4.2-yard jump in average YBC. With that said, he owned just a 79.3 passer rating when targeted and wasn't very effective against man coverage (his 1.33 yards per route run in that split was better than Rice's 0.80).

The outlook for Worthy being more dangerous on chunk plays and deeper-developing sequences seems better than that of Rice. He must build on his rookie year, though, and justify being a first-round pick back in 2024.

Whether Worthy blossoms into a star — or something resembling one — could give the Chiefs some much-needed clarity.

The Chad O'Shea Effect

With all due respect to now-former wideouts coach Connor Embree, it became abundantly clear over time that he wasn't the right man for the job. Even if Chad O'Shea doesn't turn out to be a viable solution, one can't blame the franchise for shaking things up.

For starters, O'Shea is an experienced coach who's been either a receivers specialist, passing game coordinator or offensive coordinator dating back to 2007. He's a detail-oriented leader who should get more out of players like Rice and Worthy. Can he get the most out of them?

That remains to be seen. At a certain point, it's on the players to do their job and not rely on being schemed open or needing someone to hold them accountable at all times. On the flip side, it certainly doesn't hurt to have someone like O'Shea attempting to put them in positions to succeed on the practice field.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google