Wide receiver Rashee Rice was on track to be a WR1 for the Kansas City Chiefs last season and one of the best values in fantasy football. Then, his quarterback decided to projectile missile himself into his knee, ending his season. While Rice was on the shelf, Xavier Worthy slowly broke out, emerging as the Chiefs’ clear WR1 by the latter portion of the season.
Will Rice reclaim his WR1 status in 2025, or is Worthy one of the most undervalued players in fantasy?
Xavier Worthy Fantasy Outlook
Looking at Worthy’s rookie season from a 10,000-foot view, it wasn’t good. He averaged 11.0 fantasy points per game, finishing as the WR40. That’s not someone you want to start in fantasy.
Worthy only earned a 17.2% target share and was targeted on an abysmal 20.3% of his routes run, 63rd in the league. His 1.32 yards per route run was 76th in the league, and his 6.5 yards per target was outside the top 90.
So far, I haven’t presented you with a single metric indicating Worthy was anything close to useful as a rookie…but he was. It just took a little while.
Similar to Rice’s rookie year, Worthy was brought along slowly. He averaged a 63% snap share over the first 13 weeks of the season. During that span, he had six games with double-digit fantasy points and just four games over 13 fantasy points.
In Week 14, though, something changed. Worthy’s snap share never dipped below 80% again (excluding Week 18 when the Chiefs rested starters).
NFL Leaders in PLAYOFF receiving last season:
1. Xavier Worthy👀
2. Dyami Brown👀👀
3. Terry McLaurin
4. Dallas Goedert
5. Nico Collins
6. Ladd McConkey – only 1 game!!
7. DeVonta Smith
8. Travis Kelce – always makes top 10
9. Khalil Shakir
10. AJ BrownWorthy and Dyami🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/00YLBDVWZY
— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) May 9, 2025
From Weeks 14-17, Worthy posted games of 9.6, 19.6, 20.5, and 22.9 fantasy points. The NFL playoffs don’t count, but they do help us evaluate players. Worthy finished out the season with 22.1 and 35.7 fantasy points in the AFC Championship and Super Bowl. By the end of the season, Worthy was the clear top non-Patrick Mahomes offensive weapon on the Chiefs.
Will Worthy Remain the Chiefs’ Top Receiving Option?
Entering the season, Rice was the clear WR1 for the Chiefs. Had he not gotten hurt, that would not have changed. Would Worthy have still broken out? It’s impossible to say. But he did. And now the Chiefs have two receivers capable of being the guy who gets those layup targets underneath.
Rice opened the season with games of 17.3, 18.5, and 29.1 fantasy points. He was averaging 9.67 targets per game. Had Rice not gotten hurt, there’s a real chance he would have averaged over 18.0 PPG, and we’d be talking about him as a 1/2 turn selection in fantasy drafts.
There is certainly a world where Worthy picks up right where he left off and ends up being the more valuable Chiefs receiver. Based on average draft position (ADP), the fantasy community is accounting for that.
Although Rice’s ADP is WR21 compared to WR26 for Worthy, I do believe Rice would be going even higher if he played all of last season and was not suspended.
At the same time, Worthy’s ADP would also be much higher if Rice’s recovery from his knee injury were going poorly or if we knew he was going to miss a significant chunk of the season. There’s definitely room for both to outperform their respective ADPs and do so together.
With that said, I am firmly in the camp of Rice reclaiming his WR1 status. The Chiefs had a lot go wrong at wide receiver last year. Worthy benefited from being the only real option. Rice and Hollywood Brown were injured. Travis Kelce is clearly in the midst of a decline. And midseason acquisition DeAndre Hopkins is very much just a role player at this juncture.
Of course, the Chiefs were manufacturing touches for Worthy.
I believe Worthy’s layup targets that otherwise would have gone to Rice will revert to going to him. As long as Rice’s recovery continues to go well, and by all accounts, it does, I expect him to resume his status as essentially the new Kelce. Rice will be the guy getting all those underneath targets that rack up the points in PPR leagues.
That doesn’t mean Worthy isn’t worth drafting, too, though.
Sophomore wide receivers coming off strong rookie campaigns are historically very good investments. Worthy’s 638 yards as a rookie put him above the 525-yard threshold, but not quite at the 800-900 yard level that indicates very good/elite future success.
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I expect Kelce to continue taking a step back and only being used heavily when necessary. That means Rice is the one, Worthy is the two, and Brown is a solid three, who has moments but isn’t a consistent producer. We know Mahomes is capable of supporting all of their fantasy values.
Worthy is currently my WR19, which puts me above consensus on both Chiefs receivers. In deeper starting lineup leagues, I wouldn’t mind drafting both of them. However, it’s worth noting Worthy as my WR25 before news of Rice’s criminal case concluding, triggering a likely suspension.
Dan Fornek’s Xavier Worthy Projection
The football world had a collective eye roll when the NFL allowed Kansas City to be in a position to draft 2024 rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the draft after he ran a record 4.21 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Through the first nine weeks of the season, Worthy seemed stuck in a gadget role on offense despite a season-ending injury to Rashee Rice in Week 4. Worthy had just 20 receptions on 43 targets for 246 yards, three touchdowns, nine carries for 37 yards, and two scores.
However, Worthy’s role had a meaningful shift starting in Week 11. From Weeks 11 to 17, Worthy caught 39 of 55 passes for 392 yards and three scores, finishing as the WR24 in PPR points per game (15.6). His role was even better during the NFL playoffs, where he caught 19 of 21 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns in three games.
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The Chiefs found ways to utilize Worthy without forcing him to run endless deep targets toward the end of the season. He could start the season in that role again, with Rice waiting to hear on the duration of his suspension from a 2024 highway accident. Worthy thrived as an underneath target at the end of his rookie season. However, if he and Patrick Mahomes can fix their inefficiencies on deep targets (17.3% completion rate on 20+ yard throws), he can unlock a whole new level of fantasy production.
The Chiefs’ offense is designed to spread the ball around, but a player like Worthy is naturally boom or bust due to his usage down the field. If Worthy can maintain that role and still earn the targets he was at the end of 2024, he could be a dark horse WR1 as soon as 2025.
