Patrick Mahomes amazes with deep throw to Xavier Worthy in training camp

Patrick Mahomes can do things with a football that most quarterbacks can't. But last season, Mahomes' ability to get the ball downfield was curtailed by an iffy receiver corps, and protection from his tackles that was also suboptimal. In 2023, Mahomes completed just 24 of 76 passes of 20 or more air yards for 817 yards, two touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 49.1. That was the NFL's worst deep passer rating among quarterbacks who played at least 50% of their teams' snaps.

Step 1 in the rehabilitation of the Chiefs' vertical passing game was the 28th overall pick of Texas receiver Xavier Worthy, whose 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 scouting combine was the fastest in the event's history. And as we saw during the team's training camp practice on Sunday, that speed translates to the field. Mahomes hit Worthy on a ridiculous deep pass after rolling left and righting his shoulders, as only he can.

The difference here, of course, was that Worthy was actually where he was supposed to be to get that amazing pass, as opposed to everything that happened for the Chiefs' passing game in 2023.

Opponents should fear this duo already.

“There’s no easing,” Mahomes said earlier this week of Worthy’s progression up the Chiefs’ depth chart. “He’s going to have to be ready to go. We’ve got a lot of competition on this offense. (General Manager) Brett Veach and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid did a great job of bringing a lot of competition in. Xavier (Worthy)– I mean, he got a lot of mental work in these last few weeks that he had during OTAs and minicamp but it’s time to go now. Y’all saw with Rashee (Rice) last year, some of the throwing up days he had. We’re going to push you to the limit and prepare yourself to be ready to go for the season and that’s not just him, that’s everybody and everybody has to have that mentality when they come into camp.”

Looks pretty good so far...