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Xavier Worthy runs and escapes being tackles USA TODAY Sports

Xavier Worthy NFL Draft 2024: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Kansas City Chiefs WR

Originally posted on The 33rd Team | By Greg Cosell | Last updated Apr 26, 2024 2:00 AM ET

The 2024 NFL Draft is here, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.

Here's our report on Xavier Worthy.

Xavier Worthy'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 5-foot-11 1/4"
Weight: 165 lbs
40-Time: 4.21
10-Yard Split: 1.49
Vertical: 41"
Broad Jump: 10'11"
3-Cone: DNP
Shuttle: DNP

Xavier Worthy 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

STRENGTHS:

Sudden explosive wide receiver with fluid dynamic movement traits who can attack all three levels of the defense
Explosive off the ball with free access; ate up ground in a hurry by vertically challenging off-coverage corners
Has stride length, accelerating burst and speed to run by off coverage corners; high-end vertical separator
Strider with balance, body control and core looseness to make sharp, decisive breaks at the top of the route stem
Showed an understanding of how to use the vertical stem to attack and defeat corners, makes sudden change of direction
Snaps in which he defeated press-man coverage with outstanding short-area quickness and burst off the ball
Balance and body control to stop off his vertical stem and create needed separation from press-man corners
A good route runner with balance and body control to stop and change direction with suddenness
In 2023, he showed an innate understanding of the need to come back to the ball and present flat and friendly to the quarterback.
His rare vertical speed is a problem for safeties when his team gets him matched inside through formation and motion.
Ball-tracking ability on vertical routes is evident on Alabama and Houston TDs, which is a necessary trait for Worthy
Effective from the slot running pivot and hip routes with short-area burst to create separation from coverage
More efficient catching the ball with his hands away from his frame rather than letting it get into his body
Showed some run-after-catch juice when he had room on short and intermediate routes because he's an explosive accelerator

WEAKNESSES:

His hands must become better and much more consistent. He had too many routine drops and too much body-catching.
A space receiver who needs room to generate burst and acceleration because he's thin-framed with almost no physicality
There will be legitimate questions about his ability to defeat press coverage and get into his route stem cleanly
Not likely to be a contested-catch receiver given his slight frame and did not show he could fight through contact
Caught a lot of screens in Texas' offense which padded his stats. How will Worthy be used in an NFL pass game?

Texas Longhorns wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) runs the ball down the sideline during the Big 12 Championship game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

NFL TRANSITION:

Worthy blew up the NFL Scouting Combine with his record-setting 4.21-second 40-yard dash, but his tape from 2022 and 2023 told you he was fast. So that sprint time did not add anything to the evaluation and projection of Worthy to the next level. Worthy is without question a vertical dimension with the pure rare speed to run by and get on top of corners.

What stood out in 2023 was his improved deep-ball tracking skills which must be a paramount feature of his game given that he will be deployed on go routes and post routes. Worthy did not run a diverse route tree at Texas but there were strong examples in which he showed some nuance and detail running intermediate routes, especially naturally coming back to the ball to give the quarterback a clean throw.

Worthy, like more and more receivers in recent drafts, is slight at only 165 pounds, but the NFL game has evolved in recent years with the defined increase in motion, bunch and stack formations. So smaller receivers can get free access off the ball and attack coverage with accelerating speed. Worthy fits that style of receiver with his instantaneous burst, short-area explosiveness and the kind of vertical speed that can change the way defenses must play on the back end.

Worthy is an explosive weapon both vertically and in running after the catch, and that is always in demand in the NFL. However, there are limitations to his game in that he lacks any kind of physicality and contested catch toughness and competitiveness. Those are traits that Devonta Smith at a similar weight has consistently exhibited, so the question becomes whether Worthy can develop into more than a dynamic vertical receiver.

OTHER NOTES:

Worthy came to Texas as a four-star recruit out of California ranked as the 13th-best wide receiver prospect in the nation. He became a starter right away as a freshman. Worthy finished his three-year college career with 197 receptions for 2,755 yards (14.0 average) and 26 TDs.

In 2022, Worthy predominantly lined up outside (only 31 of his 114 targets came in the slot). He was deployed at times as the motion receiver, and there were also snaps offset in the backfield and on swing passes off orbit reverse motion.

This article first appeared on The 33rd Team and was syndicated with permission.

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