Xavier

Worthy

Worthy’s box score speaks for itself. Even with Rashee Rice out, the speedy wideout was nowhere to be found. Of course, he did pull off his signature move once again by catching a pass with one foot out of bounds, resulting in an incompletion. A complete lack of spatial awareness has been one of Worthy’s many issues entering the NFL, and he hasn’t made any progress in his second year. We don’t need to tell you this, but Worthy is not on the fantasy radar for Week 18.

Worthy “added” a zero-yard rush. Worthy actually tied for the team lead in receiving yards, which tells you all you need to know about how the Chiefs fared without Patrick Mahomes. That’s because they were also faring without Gardner Minshew following a first half knee injury. Minshew is now expected to miss Thursday evening’s game against the Broncos, leaving “Chris Oladokun” to sling the ball to Worthy and company. With or without Rashee Rice (concussion) back in the lineup, that basically makes Worthy a no-go as a WR4 vs. Denver’s elite pass defense.

Worthy was mostly invisible in this one. He came in and out of the lineup with various injuries and didn’t appear fully healthy in the second half. Most of his Week 15 production came on a 26 yard catch and run — one of the biggest plays of the day for a sleepy Kansas City offense. Headed into the team’s Week 16 game against the Titans, Worthy has three games with more than four receptions. Patrick Mahomes’ Week 15 knee injury — which appeared to be serious — will be another knock to Worthy’s fantasy prospects. He’ll be a fringe flex play against Tennessee.

The Chiefs struggled to move the football throughout against the league’s top defense, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes setting a career high in consecutive incompletions with 10 in the second half. The one good aspect of Worthy’s game was that he failed to account for any drops, which both Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice could not say leaving the game. Worthy continues to see modest volume with both primary options healthy, a trend likely to hold ahead of a Week 15 showdown with the Chargers.

Worthy’s six targets tied for second on the team with Travis Kelce but were half of Rashee Rice’s team-leading 12 on the evening, something fantasy managers have grown to accept since the talented third-year receiver’s return from a six-game suspension to start the season. He’ll likely have to overcome modest volume again when the Chiefs take on the Texans in Week 14.

No surprises here as Worthy played through the ankle issue last week and was practicing in full as of yesterday. Rashee Rice has taken over as the team’s No. 1 receiver since returning from his suspension and Travis Kelce is still a high-volume check-down option for Mahomes. That has left Worthy without much of a role over the past month. A shootout with the Cowboys could temporarily revive his fantasy outlook, but it’s hard to move him beyond a WR4 ranking for Week 13.

If you were ever going to start Worthy again, you’d have to figure it would be against the Cowboys, right? But they’ve improved enough on defense over the last few games that Worthy is probably still just a questionable FLEX play in Week 13 with no teams on bye. Worthy upgraded from a limited practice on Monday and continues to have his ankle injury managed.

Worthy and Mahomes struggled to get on the same page during regulation of this game. Worthy had 28 yards and one drop on seven targets heading into overtime. He did, however, pick up the slack in overtime with a 31-yard gain that eventually led to a game-winning field goal. Worthy’s 59 yards today go down as his highest total since Rashee Rice returned to the lineup. Worthy can’t hang with Rice as a target-earner and isn’t doing much as a downfield option this year. A great matchup with the Cowboys could boost his stats in Week 13, but fantasy managers have to treat him as a WR4 going forward.

Left guard Kingsley Suamataia is also active. He was listed as questionable because of a concussion. Worthy was always expected to suit up this week after getting in a full practice on Friday. He will be a fantasy WR4 in a must-win matchup for Kansas City. Inactive for the Chiefs are CB Josh Williams, RB Isiah Pacheco, WR Jalen Royals, TE Jared Wiley, RB Elijah Mitchell, and OL Wanya Morris.

Worthy was held out of Wednesday’s practice but steadily made progress throughout the week. He was listed as a full participant on Friday before being given a questionable tag. Worthy has fallen by the wayside with Rashee Rice back. He has topped 40 yards one time since Week 7, Rice’s first game of the year. Worthy hasn’t scored with Rice active. He is stuck in the WR4 ranks for Week 12.