Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was non-committal about the status of wide receivers Xavier Worthy and Jalen Royals for Sunday’s home opener against Philadelphia when addressing media members Monday.
Coming off a rookie season where he led all Chiefs wide receivers with 638 yards and six touchdowns, Worthy sustained a dislocated shoulder on the third offensive play of the Chiefs’ season-opening 27-21 loss to the Chargers in Sao Paulo.
Reports have indicated Worthy has been evaluated for whether or not this injury will require surgery. Reid didn’t rule him out for this week when discussing his status.
“I know Xavier is the big question. He’s rehabbing and working his shoulder,” Reid said. “We’ll see where it goes, day by day, here. We’ll see where we end up.”
A potential Worthy replacement, rookie Jalen Royals, has been sidelined for a few weeks due to a knee injury, and was inactive for the team’s first game.
“Jalen is doing a good job with his rehab. We’ll just see how that ends up this week,” Reid said. “We’ve got a couple of days here that we’ve had. Guys are making good progress. But we’ll see where it rolls. If neither (Worthy nor Royals) play, we’ve got guys that we played with the other night that are good football players.”
The only wide receiver on the Chiefs’ practice squad they could promote if Worthy and/or Royals are out Sunday against the Eagles (1-0) is rookie Jimmy Holiday.
Kansas City is shorthanded at the position partly due to the absence of Rashee Rice, who is serving a six-game suspension for violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Rice was disciplined for his role in multiple car accidents on a Dallas freeway in 2024 and subsequently leaving the scene.
During Monday’s availability, Reid said he “didn’t have enough money to do all that” when asked if he planned to contact the NFL for an explanation as to why Chargers defensive lineman Teair Tart wasn’t ejected in Friday’s game for striking Travis Kelce.
“I don’t understand that by rule. I guess it’s open hand, fist, whatever, I don’t know all of that what their decision was on that but he definitely got hit in the head pretty hard,” Reid said.”I think it’s the open hand-closed hand deal. I don’t know how you determine that, but which hurts more.”
–Field Level Media
