Throughout the first six games of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs were excited about what they could be when Rashee Rice returned from suspension. With Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Xavier Worthy on the outside and Travis Kelce in the middle, the Chiefs had the look of a top offense that could get even better when Rice came back.
Those opinions have been validated in Rice’s first three games of the season as the wideout has reeled in 20 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns. While the Chiefs have gone 2-1 in these games, they’ve run into an unintended consequence, and it brings into question how they’ve used Worthy and the rest of the Chiefs' playmakers as the team enters its bye week.
Rice’s Return is Great News for Mahomes and Bad News for Xavier Worthy
Everyone was excited about Rice’s return, but nobody may have been as jacked as Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs QB has looked to his top wideout often with 26 targets over the past three games, a total that is tied with Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts for the 9th most in the NFL since Rice’s return. He also made those targets count with his 2.56 yards per route run, the ninth-highest figure during that timeframe, according to Pro Football Focus.
These numbers are exactly what the Chiefs wanted for Rice in his return. But they’ve also come at the cost of Worthy’s production. Adam Levitan of Establish The Run pointed out that Worthy and Rice have played six full games together since Worthy entered the league last season, and Worthy’s total production amounts to 17 catches for 192 yards and a touchdown on 4.7 targets per game.
Some receivers would see that as taking one for the team, but it’s concerning when you consider Worthy’s production when Rice hasn’t been in the lineup. In 20 games, including last year’s run to the Super Bowl, Worthy has caught 82 passes for 916 yards and eight touchdowns while also averaging 6.3 targets per game.
Those numbers are enough to raise a question as to whether Mahomes has been locking into Rice too often since his return, but the targets over the past three games may debunk that theory. Worthy ranks second on the team with 18 targets over the past three weeks, while Kelce ranks third with 16 targets. Seven different receivers also have six or more targets since Rice came back, perhaps suggesting it’s something else that’s preventing Worthy from fully breaking out.
For the last three games, it could be a Week 1 shoulder injury that Worthy hasn’t been able to shake. Even then, Worthy caught 13 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown in the three full games that he played before Rice came back.
If it’s not the injury holding him back, it could be the way the Chiefs have been using Worthy. Pro Football Focus has charted Worthy with the Chiefs’ highest average depth of target (aDOT) over the past three weeks at 11.3 yards, perhaps suggesting that his catch and run opportunities have been replaced with deep routes. Although, Worthy had an aDOT of 14.7 yards in the three games that Rice didn’t play this season.
For a player that broke the NFL Scouting Combine record with a time of 4.21 seconds in the 40-yard dash, fixing this problem may be as simple as getting the ball in Worthy’s hands. But with Rice producing, it’s important not to take away his targets to try and get Worthy going. It’s something that Andy Reid and his staff will have to figure out over the bye week in hopes of things balancing out when they host the Denver Broncos in a pivotal AFC West matchup.