With presumptive No. 1 receiver Rashee Rice starting the season with a six-game suspension, the first few weeks were the perfect opportunity for Xavier Worthy to stake his claim as the top dog in the Kansas City Chiefs’ receiver room. Unfortunately, disaster struck right out of the gate.
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In the Chiefs’ first game of the season last Friday in Brazil, Worthy was injured on just the team’s third snap of their first possession. And it wasn’t a minor knock. Worthy was taken out of the game immediately and was soon ruled out with a severe shoulder injury after bumping into teammate Travis Kelce on a route.
Initial evaluations were quite negative, as Worthy was found to have dislocated his shoulder. That’s a type of injury that could require season-ending surgery depending on the severity. Thankfully, a more recent update from head coach Andy Reid suggests Worthy will be able to avoid it and could return this season with a brace on his right shoulder.
“Chiefs coach Andy Reid describes Xavier Worthy as ‘day-to-day’ on @SportsRadio810, an indication that the plan is to rehab and attempt to play with a brace — rather than immediate surgery. Some good news initially,” Ian Rapoport reported on Twitter.
Generally, a dislocated shoulder without further complications takes about three weeks to recover if no surgery is needed. But if surgery were required, Worthy would likely be out for the season with a return timetable of several months.
And the way he got the injury was very frustrating. Not to mention avoidable. Worthy and Kelce were running a crossing route, or what is referred to as a “rub” route, where the receivers try to run close enough to each other to get the trailing DBs to collide as they go past. Kelce broke down what happened on a recent episode of his New Heights podcast. However, he had no new updates on Worthy’s recovery.
“I’m supposed to be running my route at depth for Worthy. So, it’s frustrating for me. I was trying to kind of set up my guy to be able to get into position, and it all just happened pretty quick. I just gotta be better, man. I’m 13 years in the league. There is no excuse for me running into my own guys like that,” Travis said in an episode of New Heights.
Travis Kelce on Xavier Worthy and his injury: "I’m supposed to be running my route at depth for Worthy. So, it’s frustrating for me. I was trying to kind of set up my guy to be able to get into position, and it all just happened pretty quick. I just gotta be better, man. I’m 13… pic.twitter.com/p3MlWk5kBs
— Chiefs Blitz (@ChiefsBlitz) September 10, 2025
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Maybe the big fella was too busy day-dreaming about his upcoming billion-dollar wedding on the moon to Taylor Swift to notice his teammate running beneath him. But he should’ve. There was some contact from the defender that meant that Kelce was a little more shallow than maybe he should have been as well.
The result is that the Chiefs are likely without their top two wideouts for the next month and a half. They will operate with a platoon of Juju Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown, and Kelce to soak up those targets in the meantime. Though they could be getting some help via trade sooner than that.
