Chiefs' Xavier Worthy's Fantasy Draft Landing Spot, Value After Marquise Brown Injury

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise Brown will miss four-to-six weeks with a sternoclavicular joint dislocation suffered last Saturday in a preseason matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz on Tuesday. That timeline potentially has Brown missing a few games, with the Chiefs opening the season against the Baltimore Ravens (Sept. 5), Cincinnati Bengals (Sept. 15) and Atlanta Falcons (Sept. 22).

Hopefully the talented, speedy Brown returns healthy ASAP and hits the ceiling he and quarterback Patrick Mahomes can reach. Until then, Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy should step into the spotlight.

From a fantasy perspective, Worthy is already a potential mid-round steal. The latest FantasyPros point-per-reception rankings have Worthy as the No. 46 wide receiver and No. 100 overall. ESPN has him as the No. 42 WR and No. 85 overall, while Yahoo! Sports places Worthy at No. 42 at his position and No. 99 overall.

So there's a clear tier for Worthy as an eighth- or ninth-round draft choice, give or take.

But now Worthy, who ran an NFL combine record 4.21 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has a chance to make a major impact right away.

Right now, he's listed on the second line of the Chiefs' unofficial depth chart behind Brown and Rashee Rice and alongside Justin Watson. Those charts should be taken with a grain of salt, especially about a month before the season, but it's impossible to ignore his speed and ability to make explosive plays with Mahomes.

The Chiefs, who traded up from No. 32 to No. 28 overall in the 2024 NFL draft to land Worthy, obviously have big plans for him. He just amassed 75 catches for 1,014 yards last season at Texas. It's not impossible seeing him rack up a 1,000-yard season in short order in the Chiefs' offense.

Ultimately, the deep ball is the key here. Ian Hartitz of Fantasy Life spoke about Worthy in a preseason takeaways article and had this to say.

"The fastest man alive (at least in the NFL) was put into motion on two of his three snaps, which helps eliminate the potential for press coverage to mess things up in a hurry. More intriguing was the reality that Worthy ran two deep routes, indicating the "deep ball is back" word out of Chiefs camp is far from a rumor.

"Don't be surprised if Patrick Mahomes and company's lack of downfield shot plays in 2023 wind up being an anomaly as opposed to a sign of things to come. It hasn't been THAT long since Mahomes was pushing the ball deep as often as anyone in the league."

The deep ball has been evident at training camp:

Ultimately, the verdict here is that Worthy should be viewed as a low-end WR3 and a top-80 overall fantasy prospect, so a top-36 wideout and a potential seventh-round pick at worst. There's simply too much potential to ignore here with Mahomes chucking him the rock, especially if he gets more snaps right away and doesn't look back with his opportunity