Patrick Mahomes has a clear message for Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy after Rashee Rice’s injury

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had something to say to rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy after Rashee Rice got injured in Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season.

© Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesPatrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs reacts after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 17-10 at SoFi Stadium on September 29, 2024 in Inglewood, California.

Xavier Worthy has quickly proven to be a reliable weapon for Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs. And with Rashee Rice expected to miss significant time due to injury, the rookie wide receiver is expected to embrace an even bigger role in the 2024 NFL season.

On Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers, Worthy once again made a big play for Mahomes by catching a 54-yard touchdown. Speaking to the media after the game, the Chiefs quarterback looked happy with the way the first-round pick settled in.

“The big-time catch down the field, some big-time third-down conversions, he’s a great football player, I think he’s just getting more and more comfortable within the offense,” Mahomes said of Worthy, via Chiefs Wire.

Worthy is building on a fantastic NFL debut, having made an impression in his very first game on a Chiefs uniform during the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Now that Rice is on the sidelines, Mahomes expects to look for the Texas product even more.

Xavier Worthy #1 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs to score a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens during the first quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on September 05, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.

“When I go back to the tape, I feel like there’s going to be a couple more that I thought about taking those chances, and I think he ended up winning. So as I build comfortability with him, I’ll keep taking those chances,” Mahomes said, “and when he makes plays like that like he did today, it’ll give me that ability to kind of shoot him and let him go out there one-on-one and make catches.”

Xavier Worthy reveals communication with Mahomes

With nearly four minutes left in the first half and the Chiefs behind the 50-yard line, Mahomes threw a long pass that Worthy caught directly in the end zone. The 21-year-old also addressed that play, claiming he’d talked about it with the quarterback.

“We talked about it on the sideline,” Worthy said. “I told Pat, probably around the first quarter, ‘If you get this play call, I’m (going to) stutter it a little bit at the top of the route,’ and it worked. It worked out just like that, which is crazy. I feel like I would have had it if I would have run it straight. But the stutter just added a little bit of sauce to it.”

Andy Reid urges Mahomes not to focus only on Worthy

While Worthy is expected to step up like Rice had to in his rookie year in 2023, Andy Reid made it clear to Mahomes that he also expects the other wideouts on the team to get involved.

“We have guys here that have experience of playing in a game, so I mean, it’s not that he’s the only one, [and] doesn’t have to be the only one,” Reid said of Worthy. “We’ve got a good group of guys there that we can utilize. We normally spread the ball around, and that’s what we’ll continue to strive to do.“