Patrick Mahomes welcomes back Xavier Worthy and Jalen Royals to Chiefs practice on his 30th birthday

By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrated his 30th birthday Wednesday by welcoming Xavier Worthy and Jalen Royals back to practice.

The two wide receivers have hardly played after Worthy hurt his shoulder in a collision with Travis Kelce early in their season opener, and Royals was left dealing with a knee injury from training camp. But after Worthy practiced a bit late last week, coach Andy Reid said Wednesday that neither would have any restrictions in preparing for Sunday night’s game against the New York Giants.

“I’m just excited to get those guys back and, you know, go out there and try to have some success on offense better than we did last week,” said Mahomes, who is off to one of the worst starts of his NFL career for the winless Chiefs.

Mahomes has completed just 58.8% of his passes and averaging 222.5 yards passing in losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles.

Spotty protection from an offensive line that the Chiefs have poured financial and draft resources into over the past few years is one of the problems. But another has been the absence of three wide receivers expected to make a big impact on the team.

Along with the injuries to Worthy and Royals, Rashee Rice is in the midst of a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Few teams can withstand those kinds of losses, and the Chiefs have been no different. Marquise Brown is their only pass catcher with more than six receptions total, and that includes tight end Travis Kelce, who had a touchdown pass bounce off his hands for an interception at the goal line in their Super Bowl rematch against Philadelphia on Sunday.

It’s been reminiscent of last season, when the Chiefs had to withstand a season-ending knee injury to Rice and a shoulder injury to Brown that caused him to miss almost the entire regular season. In that case, Worthy stepped up with a rookie season that far exceeded most expectations, and that made him a focal point of the Chiefs’ offseason plans for the offense.

“I think more than anything,” Mahomes said, “having him out there is a threat in general. He can at any moment take a pass, short or long, and he can take it to the house. Having him on the practice field was very encouraging last week. Obviously we didn’t know after the injury in Brazil (how long he’d be out), but seeing him out there — he wanted to stay out there. We were kind of holding him back. Hopefully we can go through a good week of practice and have him out there.”

The same goes for Royals, whom the Chiefs picked in the fourth round of the draft out of Utah State.

While Worthy has game-breaking speed, Royals offers a similar kind of shifty quickness as Rice, which means he would have been a good option to take on some of the suspended wide receiver’s workload over the first six weeks of the season.

“We’ll just see how he does,” Reid said. “He’s been out for a while. We’ll see how he comes around.”

In the meantime, Mahomes didn’t sound as if he had many other birthday plans Wednesday. The fact that he’s on an 0-2 team for the first time since his sophomore year at Whitehouse High School in Texas has kind of put a damper on things.

“It’s always hard to have a birthday in general — especially this year with the losses — but being so early in the season, you’re so focused on football and trying to get going in the right direction,” Mahomes said. “We celebrated in the offseason. We went down and I hung out with my friends; we all grew up together. I’m a little ahead of them but all of them, their wives are pregnant, they are getting their jobs that they’re going to have for the rest of their life, stuff like that. So it’s cool to see.”

Besides, Mahomes said, “I’ve been saying, I’ve got kids, man. I’ve been 30 forever.’”

NOTES: DE Mike Danna (quad) and CB Kristian Fulton (ankle) did not practice Wednesday. … Reid brushed aside Wednesday any notion of “load management” for Kelce, who turns 36 next month, especially after his slow start. “I don’t think it’s an age thing or anything,” Reid said. “We try to keep an eye on him the best we can.”

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