An injury disaster struck the Chiefs three plays into the season opener on Friday night against the Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The Chargers won the coin-toss, deferred and kicked to the Chiefs. Facing a third-and-6 from the KC 28, Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy and tight end Travis Kelce crossed routes. Worthy’s shoulder banged into Kelce’s body ... and down went Worthy as the pass fell incomplete.
Worthy remained on the turf before walking slowly off the field, and then to the locker room. By the second quarter, Worthy was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a shoulder injury.
The Chiefs were suddenly missing a very important player. As a rookie, Worthy topped the Chiefs’ wide receivers corps in receptions last season, with 59.
Worthy’s role was elevated because of an injury last season to wide receiver Rashee Rice. In a game at the Chargers, Rice suffered a season-ending knee injury when he banged his leg on Patrick Mahomes’ helmet as both players were attempting to make a tackle after an interception.
Rice was unavailable for Friday’s game, serving the first game of his six-game league suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. The Chiefs also were playing without rookie wide receiver Jalen Royals, who is recovering from an injury.
That left the Chiefs with five wide receivers for the game: Marquise “Hollywood’” Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jason Brownlee and Nikko Remigio.