Xavier Worthy Admits 2025 Shoulder Injury Limited Ability in Chiefs' Offense

A couple of common themes from the Kansas City Chiefs' 2025-26 season were untimely injuries and players falling well short of expectations. There may not have been a more fitting microcosm of that than wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who got significantly banged up during the year and also failed to live up to the hype.

The former first-round pick took a significant step back in year No. 2, leaving him with a make-or-break junior campaign to answer plenty of the questions surrounding his play. Can Worthy get on track? He believes it starts with simply remaining healthy.

Speaking to the media following Friday's Chiefs training camp practice, the speedy wideout said he was "never 100%" a season ago and is thrilled to shed the yellow non-contact jersey he donned for most of the summer.

"The yellow jersey, that was just something precautionary," Worthy said. "Coming into camp, obviously, I knew I was going to get into more contact. Building the shoulder up, and I feel fine, I feel good."

Just three plays into Week 1's 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Worthy collided with tight end Travis Kelce and suffered a dislocated shoulder. That led to a torn labrum he played through in Weeks 4-17, which got fixed in January. Now that he's on the other side of it, he's feeling mentally and physically better.

Likely more prepared and better equipped for success, too. Worthy admitted the shoulder issue kept him from executing the original goal both he and Kansas City had for him within the offense.

"I mean, last year was kind of hard to look at because my routes kind of got changed and I couldn't run a lot of the things I would normally run, and I couldn't run in the way I wanted to," Worthy said. So I was just looking at it as in, 'What would I do in this situation?' when I was watching the film. There were a lot of things I could've done — and could've done better — and obviously, I worked at it in the offseason."

Many expected a sophomore leap and were instead met with a sophomore slump, as Worthy also nursed an ankle issue for part of the year and simply wasn't as effective as the season prior. His per-down success rate dipped by nearly 7%, and his passer rating when targeted plummeted from 93.1 to 79.3.

Not much went right for the man who broke the NFL Scouting Combine record for the fastest 40-yard dash time. In 14 games (13 starts), he managed all of 42 receptions for 532 yards and just a single touchdown through the air.

Finally healthy and part of a top-heavy receiver room, Worthy aims to "lead by example" and be there for his younger or less experienced teammates. Considering he's still only 23 years old himself, the shoes he anticipates filling remain sizable. The bar he's set hasn't changed.

It's impossible to totally write off last season as a blip on the radar, but Worthy will try his best to tap back into some of the promise he showed as a rookie in 2024 — surgically-repaired shoulder and all.

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