As Chiefs deal with Hollywood Brown injury, Xavier Worthy gets opportunity to shine
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KCTV) - It only took one snap of preseason football for the Kansas City Chiefs depth at wide receiver to be tested.
On Saturday, free agent signee Hollywood Brown dislocated his sternoclavicular shoulder t after catching an 11-yard on the Chiefs’ first play. Brown was jammed into the ground on a tackle and was hospitalized in Jacksonville as a result.
When Kansas City returned to St. Joseph, Missouri, for its final week of training camp practices at Missouri Western State University, head coach Andy Reid offered positive news on Brown. Reid said the former first-round pick out of Oklahoma did not require surgery to get his t back into place.
“We’ll see how that goes,” the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach said of the possibility Brown returns for Kansas City’s Sept. 5 opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
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Before Brown injured his shoulder during the preseason, third-year Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson has been dealing with a foot injury and wide receiver Kadarius Toney has dealt with ankle and back issues. So as Kansas City awaits Brown’s recovery and return, its first-round selection in May’s 2024 NFL Draft has been presented an opportunity. Still, Xavier Worthy said he’s not changing anything.
“(Brown)’s a key to our offense so getting him back will be huge,” Worthy said. “My mindset is to be the best, regardless. Hollywood is definitely one of the leaders, he shows me a lot, teaches me a lot -- but my mindset is to be the best regardless.”
“He’s going to be back, but without him in there,” Reid said of Brown, “we’ve also got other guys that can step in and play. We’ll be OK, but we’re pulling for him to get back.”
Worthy played just five snaps in his preseason debut and failed to generate a target despite the game’s first play being designed for him to touch it.
“It was a good experience. It was fun,” Worthy said. “Being able to get that experience in the NFL was cool. They rolled to a Cover 1 so it kind of took away my play. Kind of upset about that one but it happens.”
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In his time at Texas, Worthy scored 26 touchdowns and had more than 2700 yards receiving in three seasons. Whether it was bubble screens, deep routes or on kickoff and punt returns, the Longhorns found ways to get him the ball all over the field. That’s something he said could be in store in Kansas City as well.
“In college, I had the freedom to get the ball anywhere on the field,” said Worthy. “Being able to have that here, I feel like I’ll be able to be a threat with the ball in my hands.”
New NFL kickoff rules have increased the attention paid to special teams during the preseason. Worthy, who returned two kicks and 40 punts during his three-year career at Texas, said he was bummed to not get a chance to return a punt during his professional debut.
“I wanted one so bad the other day,” he said. “They took me off and shut me down for the day, but I’m ready to get my first punt return going. I wanted one of those punt returns for sure, definitely, but they took us off the field and I was like, ‘Dang, I can’t get a punt return?’ It was messed up but I understand.”
Worthy said Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub shows returners tape of Hall-of-Fame return man Devin Hester -- who Toub coached with the Chicago Bears -- for examples of how things should be done.
“It was amazing to have a coach that coached him and be able to understand the tools it takes to be great back there,” Worthy said.
Whether Reid and Toub afford Worthy the chance to get his first NFL punt return in his Arrowhead Stadium debut on Saturday is to be determined.
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