The Kansas City Chiefs are actively dealing with Rashee Rice's six-game suspension that changed the entire offense's plan going into Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Second-year wideout Xavier Worthy was a star late in the campaign, becoming three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes' No. 1 target in the moments that mattered most. If a fully developed Worthy and Rice are on the field at the same time, it changes everything for the offense.
At the same time, it's hard to separate the two wideouts' respective futures from the other when we evaluate the future roster in 2026 and beyond.
For anyone skeptical about Xavier Worthy year 2: pic.twitter.com/zKB2ShJeZy
— Julio (@RasheeTouchdown) September 4, 2025
Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy Could Derail Rashee Rise Extension with Strong Season
Worthy is the most important Kansas City player to watch in the first six weeks. He dominated, notching 281 yards and three TDs in the postseason. That's significant, and it could derail contract extension talks with Rice in the coming years.
While he's still just in his third year and has a season left on the contract, Rice is a priority signing alongside Trent McDuffie. Despite his off-field issues, no fans think that general manager Brett Veach won't re-sign the talented wideout. Nonetheless, Worthy could complicate matters.
Should Worthy and Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown perform well, there's a reasonable argument to make that Rice serves a minimal purpose. Fans wouldn't make it, but it's easy to imagine a scenario in which Worthy and Brown get extensions and Rice doesn't.
At this stage, it looks like Rice is a top-10 wideout in the entire league. He was well on his way to achieving a season with over 1,200 yards, if not more, and now head coach Andy Reid has to determine if Worthy can handle the same workload.
By any measure, Rice is one of the better players at his position in the NFL. There's little reason to believe that he won't step up to the challenge, yet he's still recovering from his knee injury and isn't guaranteed to be as dominant as he was before.
No matter what happens, Kansas City is in a great spot. With Rice, Brown, and Worthy, Mahomes has three wideouts fully capable of taking over a game and changing the entire matchup. Given how difficult the first month is, that's important.
Here's hoping that Worthy makes Veach's call difficult and demands a larger contract with his strong play.