Chiefs young wide receiver room looking to explode this season
ST JOSEPH, Mo (News-Press NOW) -- After injuries derailed the wide receiver room last year, the new and improved Kansas City Chiefs receiver room is ready to make a serious impact this season.
But in camp earlier today the receiver room sustained multiple injuries, although they were not serious enough for the receivers to miss an extended period of time.
Marquis "Hollywood" Brown left with an ankle injury. Wide Receiver Skyy Moore left with a hamstring injury, and Xavier Worthy was banged up during the first play of practice.
Worthy went into the medical tent but returned shortly after and practiced like his usual self.
After losing Rashee Rice to a torn LCL that he sustained in week 4 of the 2024 season, rookie receiver at the time Xavier Worthy stepped up and proved he can be the number one receiver for Patrick Mahomes.
Worthy was drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of the University of Texas and made an immediate impact in the offense going for almost 700 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season and almost 300 yards and three touchdowns in the postseason.
Worthy said to media after practice that he has been working on his short and medium route running to make his speed more deadly.
"It just doesn't make you one dimensional," Worthy said. "If they [the defender] take the underneath route it makes the deep ball that much better."
Worthy also said he has learned from guys like Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce about how to improve his short and medium route running.
The Chiefs have one of the youngest receiver rooms in the NFL with an average age of 24.7 years old, or just over 24 years and 7 months old. The "veteran" receivers on this team are Marquis "Hollywood" Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster who are both only 28 years old.
Despite the younger room, head coach Andy Reid said, "Juju's the leader in there" as he has had the most NFL experience out of the room.
New additions Tyquan Thornton and Jaylen Royals have looked amazing in training camp as well, both getting a share of first team reps during practices.
Thornton is still looking for a place to thrive as his three years in New England were not the best, but based off what he has shown in training camp, we could be a valuable asset for Matt Nagy's offense down the stretch.
The same could be said for rookie Jaylen Royals. Royals was drafted in the fourth round of this year's NFL draft out of Utah State. Royals was a projected second or third round pick but fell to the fourth round after he suffered a season ending injury in his senior season at Utah State.
Royals is a physical receiver despite his size, he goes up for jump balls and fights for them. Xavier Worthy said he's a fast learner and doesn't make many mistakes despite being a rookie.
"He's a fast learner, and he doesn't make many mistakes, but obviously he's a rookie so he's going to have some mental errors here and there," Worthy said. " He's taking advantage of his opportunities."
Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy also said that Royals has improved from Organized Team Activities (OTAs) last week to this week.
Now with the added depth to wide receiver, the Chiefs do not need to worry about who they plug and play if someone were to go down. With the skillsets that these receivers have, they could have one of the most diverse groups in the league and surprise a lot of people next season.
