Xavier Worthy Will Not Play Again in Week 3
In this story:
Xavier Worthy was listed as questionable earlier in the week but it came out on Saturday that Worthy will be held out Sunday. This means the Wide Receiver will not return on Sunday Night Football against the New York Giants. Furthermore, he will not even travel with the team as he continues to receive treatment.
This even puts into doubt whether Worthy can return by Week 4 against Baltimore at home. Anyway, it is time to take a look at the pain this causes the Kansas City receiver depth chart and more.
Fantasy Football Impact
The primary impact for the Kansas City Chiefs is obvious. Kansas City is already missing Rashee Rice (suspension). Earlier in the week there was some optimism on Worthy but that was quickly dashed as the week went on.
Worthy has not been listed on the IR yet either, so there is that. Again, the Chiefs are without their two best wide-outs on the depth chart. Marquise Brown and Juju-Smith Schuster have been decent. Unfortunately, Smith-Schuster has not had the impact like he did in his first go-around with the Chiefs.
Marquise Brown saw his targets drop from 16 to 5 last week. The yards per target is troubling for a team that has been so good passing the ball. Patrick Mahomes has been held to 445 yards passing and just two touchdowns with one interception through two weeks.
And that’s that. We will see what state the Kansas City offense is in tomorrow night at MetLife. A state the Giants still heavily respect. https://t.co/CIm4jnHrqg
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) September 20, 2025
The one key point there is the following. New York respects teams too much. It was for all to see in Week 1 and especially in Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys. Both squads coming in are 0-2 and Patrick Mahomes will be in primetime. If anything, Mahomes and Kansas City probably should still be trending upward in fantasy circles.
You can view our quaterback rankings right here for a little help. Mahomes is still fifth for Week 3 despite the Worthy news.
With Worthy Out, What Are The Week 3 Options?
No one is fully sure when Worthy will return or the magic of the Kansas City offense for that matter. However, there are enough pundits who believe in them against the Giants. It seems Jalen Royals is leaning as an in for Sunday night. Royals runs a pretty decent 40 and the rookie could find some single coverage against a New York defense that got lit up by Dallas to the tune of 40 points.
Expect Andy Reid first to run the ball a little more. The Giants' rushing defense is even worse than the passing half. They rank dead last in yards and yield 5.9 yards per carry. Kansas City is averaging 5.1 yards per carry after two weeks. That could set up the passing game.
As for wide receivers of the streaming variety, Xavier Worthy was projected 17th in our rankings so maybe Marquise Brown finds his way into the Top 20. Courtland Sutton could bounce back this week and Ricky Pearsall remains a viable top option.
