- kiimo
- Jul 24, 2003
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No kidding, literally no chance he is Tyreek Hill. More like John Ross than Tyreek Hill
quote:In this year’s “know your draft crush” series, I’m once again examining various wide receivers the Chiefs could target in early rounds of the draft. Fortunately, the 2024 draft is packed with good WR prospects. In an attempt to figure out who would be the best fit in Kansas City, I’m looking at as many as possible, breaking down the film to look at the same traits for each player: Speed/acceleration/agility, releases, route running, hands/catch point work, YAC/playmaking, and an overall takeaway. Here are the guys we’ve looked at so far:
In today’s edition of “know your Chiefs draft crush,” we’ll be looking at Xavier Worthy, a player who has been connected (mostly through speculation based on history/preference of the team) with the Chiefs more often than almost anyone else in the draft. Worthy blew up the combine with a record-setting 4.21 40-yard dash and is widely considered (for good reason) one of the most electric playmakers in the draft. However, he’s undersized and many have questions about how he’ll adapt to the NFL given that limitation.
One of the great things about Worthy’s college career is that he’s played future NFL cornerbacks on several occasions, so we can dive into the film to try and answer whether he has the traits to translate to the next level. Is he Mecole Hardman (all due respect to a 3-time Super Bowl Champion) or Desean Jackson (or Hollywood Brown, or Tank Dell, etc)? As we all know, speed alone isn’t enough in the NFL. And not all speed translates to the field, and is harnessed correctly.
But sometimes it does, and when that happens it’s absolutely (apologies to Travis Kelce) electric. Let’s talk about it.
Xavier Worthy - Texas
Relevant measurements - 5’11”, 165 pounds
Games reviewed - Alabama, Houston, Oklahoma, TCU, Kansas State (2022), Alabama (2022)
(NOTE - Most of the video clips I’ll use will be to highlight positive traits, because they’re more fun to watch. But that doesn’t make the negative traits for a prospect any less real… it just means I like to show the fun things!)
-Speed / acceleration / agility-
Holy crap.
Look, as soon as you hear “4.21 40” your brain probably shuts off a bit when it comes to talking about speed. But it shouldn’t. Because as I said above, not all speedsters translate once the pads come on, or understand how to harness their speed in a way that grabs separation.
Xavier Worthy is not one of those guys.
Worthy’s speed shows up on film at all levels of the field, but in particular on deep routes (whether it’s a post, go, corner, deep crosser, whatever). He can absolutely fly in pads and can not only separate once he’s even with ease, but he can chew up ground on a defender with leverage and still be separated by the time he’s down the field.
Worthy isn’t just a “long speed” guy either. He accelerates terrifically and is able to grab separation fast on short and intermediate routes with good explosion off the line and when he cuts. His combination of quickness, acceleration, and long speed is legitimately difficult to find, and he utilizes it very effectively while varying his “gear” depending on what the situation calls for.
What I mean by this is that Worthy isn’t constantly sprinting 100 miles per hour. He seems to have a good grasp on the weapon that his speed/acceleration is and when to harness it. People talk a lot about “tempo” in route running (we’ll get more into that later), and Worthy does it well, setting a good pace for when to flip the switch and just sprint right past defenders who can’t keep up.
You can see when Worthy kicks it into 6th gear on this play. And when he does, the defender doesn’t have a chance unless he’s already sprinting deep. And Worthy helps avoid this with the tempo he runs it, saving the afterburners until he’s made his final cut. That’s utilization of speed that not every “sprinter” type shows at the NFL level, and it’s something that separates him from the Ross’s and Hardman’s of the world (who don’t have that same ability to effectively utilize their speed in pads).
Worthy, also has very good quickness (though not on the “God-tier” level his speed and acceleration are, which separates him from Tyreek Hill, whose freakishness extended to quickness as well) that allows him to start/stop and change direction well. Because he’s high level in all of these areas, he’s able to weaponize his athleticism all over the field and in multiple routes as opposed to being just a deep speed merchant. He also shows very good explosion with his first step, both off the line and in his breaks when he needs to separate at that point.
Worthy’s athleticism in all three aspects is something that sets him apart from the vast majority of prospects, and I cannot stress enough just how much of a mistake it would be to lump him in with failed speedsters who didn’t have the whole package as an athlete.
-Release ability-
The biggest question I get about Worthy is how he can handle press man coverage. I would note that this concern is generally a bit overblown because people get focused on a few highlights, but the reality is that true press man is pretty rare in the pros as well as college for a variety of reasons. The more important question is whether a receiver can get a clean release at the line without having the timing of the route screwed up, whether it’s pure press or a defender being physical right off the line.
Worthy was generally able to do so, in large part because of his combination of quickness and explosion. Defenders have a hard time getting hands on him because he has the ability to go horizontal and grab space from them, then push upfield to get “even” so fast that they can’t grab him without risking a hold.
This is the primary weapon Worthy utilizes to get himself free releases. He’s quick enough that he can skip a step to the side, then explodes fast enough to get away from potential leverage from the cornerback. He’s also more comfortable with contact than some smaller receivers (like McConkey, who despite being bigger than Worthy was slowed more frequently by contact throughout his routes and at the line) and appears to have a little more fluidity in dipping his shoulder to get around contact that’s offered at the line.
Because of Worthy’s size, if defenders are able to get a square punch on him they can jar and slow him at the line. However, because of his ability to prevent that square punch and his ability to dip around/through it, that only happened once or twice in the multiple games I watched (and plenty of corners tried it). The problem defenders faced is that his ability to get even quickly and then walk away is so dangerous that utilizing physicality at the line was too risky.
When a guy can stutter and explode into his route like that, it’s incredibly difficult to stay in front of him. And if you can’t stay in front of him, you can’t press him. That led to problems for every CB he faced at the college level, including several future pros. There’s just no safe way to press someone who can get even and then leave you behind this quickly.
I think that may stay the same at the NFL level. That agility COMBINED with the first step explosion is a terrific answer to press.
-Route running-
If Worthy had run a 4.31 instead of a 4.21, I think people would be talking about his route running more. Because he’s significantly better at it than he gets credit for. Watch the subtlety on this route, because this feels very similar to the type of thing that people rave about McConkey and Mitchell but don’t talk about as much with Worthy.
Remember when I talked about tempo? Worthy utilizes that here. He’s not in a hurry as he closes the distance to the CB, and leaves the defender wondering whether he’s setting up to explode down the field. He also doesn’t give any clue as to what direction he’ll be breaking if not going over the top. He then (without losing speed, a critical aspect in this) gives a couple of head fakes that gets the defender first turned outside, then hesitating thinking he’s going to need to execute a speed turn when Worthy cuts back. But the cutback never comes, and Worthy cuts pretty cleanly (not perfectly, but cleanly) outside to create easy separation.
Worthy’s speed has almost become a hindrance in talking about his route running, because the assumption I’ve found is that he’s not a technician. But he’s significantly better here than the vast majority of other guys with gifts that remotely approach his, and he does an excellent job overall setting up defenders with a combination of tempo shifts and head/step fakes that get defenders’ hips turned the wrong direction. And then it’s over.
Again, ignore the explosion and watch the way Worthy sets up his eventual curl here.
Worthy does a nice job selling a downfield route, then waits until the defender flips his hips (because he knows he can’t let Worthy get even). He then executes a quick turn and comes back towards the ball, which unfortunately isn’t delivered.
Worthy’s route running chops aren’t just limited to doing a nice job setting defenders up with fakes (which he does on deep routes as well, I should note). As I’ve said, he also tempos his routes well and varies his speed depending on where he’s at on the route. He also has a smoothness and liquidity to his movement that allows him to handle contact at the stem and elsewhere, something that is going to be very important at the next level (it’s really hindered Skyy Moore, for example). Worthy will often show flexibility around that contact and absorb it without losing too much off his speed and timing. Defenders have a tough time (similar to the line of scrimmage) laying a clear shot on him. That may change in the pros, but it’s promising at this point.
In terms of negatives, I’d note that Worthy does need more work in clearing his hands and getting defenders off him when they try and maintain contact as a way to read him or slow him down. He shares this issue with his teammate Adonai Mitchell, so I’m curious whether there’s a coaching point here that will be of assistance. He can be slowed up with maintained contact at times, so that’ll be the first thing to watch for.
Worthy also did show some nice spacing in his routes when running against zone, as well as the ability to vary his speed depending on where the windows were, but didn’t have to make a ton of sight adjustments. In the Chiefs offense, obviously, that will be a major part of what he needs to do and is currently an unknown.
Worthy’s route running, as I said, deserves more attention than it gets. He’s pretty nuanced in setting guys up and uses it to his advantage to create situations where he can run away from defenders who are wrong-footed. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
-Hands / strength at catch point-
This is not Worthy’s strength. While he showed the ability to track the ball deep and adjust to it over his shoulder (a crucial skill for a true deep threat rather than just a fast guy), his hands don’t seem particularly strong and he is not a contested catch player. He relies on getting that separation. When he’s not fighting contact he shows the ability to control his body and make tough catches, but not to the level of someone like Mitchell.
I didn’t see worthy has having terrible hands, but it’s not a point of strength. Given his skillset, it may not become an issue often, but it does place a few limits on what he can do in the red zone in particular.
-Yards after catch / playmaking-
Worthy, as one might expect, can be exceptional with the ball in his hands based on his speed, acceleration, and quickness alone. He’s able to make guys miss in space and can steal extra yardage other players cannot due to his ability to outrun angles to the sideline. He’s pretty fluid and looks comfortable finding the areas of the field to go after when he has the ball as well, and he’ll fight for yardage harder than one would expect from a player his size, bouncing off tacklers that don’t wrap up and doing what he can to secure every yard.
He’s definitely not a tackle-breaker, however, and is generally going to be brought down by a defender who gets a clean shot at him and doesn’t over-commit without wrapping up. So in that way one shouldn’t expect the Rashee Rice-type of shedding defenders or falling forward for multiple additional yards. It’s an area he has some very significant (and valuable) strengths, but it’s not as eye-popping as his athleticism and route-running. Though if he gets an angle, his ability to turn a short gain into a long one is something to see.
-Overall Takeaway-
Overall, I came into this film review with some skepticism given Worthy’s size. Any time you have a player who has a certain deficiency (size, speed, whatever), they need to have things in their toolbelt to compensate for that deficiency.
And with Worthy, at least on film, he absolutely does. His elite 3-prong athleticism (not JUST fast or JUST quick or JUST with terrific acceleration), along with his knowledge on how to utilize that to buy himself space, more than compensates for his lack of size and demonstrates why he was so productive even against top-tier competition. He’s a significantly better route runner than he gets credit for, with some nuance in how he sets defenders up and stacking moves on top of moves to get himself in position to run away from guys. He looks like he could walk on an NFL field tomorrow and generate separation at all 3 levels (particularly deep and intermediate) at a high level.
He’s not a contested catch guy by any stretch of the imagination, but to be perfectly frank that particular skillset is less valuable to me by a landslide than the ability to get open with consistency. And Worthy does exactly that.
My hesitancy about Worthy’s size had me coming in thinking I wouldn’t want the Chiefs to draft him in the first round. I’m fully on board now, and he’s a guy I could see as a terrific complement to Rice and Kelce’s game and as the pure “deep threat” guy in 2024 while Brown works the intermediate and shallow portion of the field (not to mention having two scary deep threats is, in fact, a good thing!). If he’s available at 32, I’d be very happy.
Next up on the “know your draft crush” list is Keon Coleman. I thought I’d go with a guy who is much more likely to be available late in the 2nd round, and a very different type of prospect than the guys we’ve looked at so far. After that, I’ll choose between Brian Thomas Jr. and Troy Franklin. But so far, this draft class (even as I’ve ignored the top 3 guys) has lived up to the hype.
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Apr 26, 2024 04:33
