KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Wide receiver Xavier Worthy provided the Kansas City Chiefs some hopeful moments in the first half of his rookie season that he can be a big part of their passing game.
But there were also some plays that reminded them Worthy is a rookie, like when he stepped out of bounds before catching a pass along the sideline while left uncovered in Monday night's win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
All in all, his rookie season to this point has left Worthy with the feeling he hasn't done his share, particularly in light of injuries to other key wideouts in Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
"I know there's more out there," Worthy said. "That's probably why I'm not satisfied for what I've got now. It's always a blessing to be able to produce and even score in the league. It's hard to get in the [end zone] in the NFL.
"But I'm not satisfied. I know I can do more."
Worthy had two touchdowns in the season-opening win over the Baltimore Ravens but hasn't had that kind of impact since. He is tied for the team lead in touchdowns with five but still trails Rice in catches (19 to Rice's 24) among Chiefs wide receivers, despite Rice having been injured since Week 4.
The Chiefs (8-0) recently traded for DeAndre Hopkins, and he already has become a favorite target of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Hopkins caught eight passes and scored two touchdowns against the Bucs.
Even with Hopkins in the lineup, there are opportunities available to Worthy. The Chiefs are hopeful he can make a leap in the second half of his rookie season similar to the one Rice made last season.
In Rice's first 10 games of his 2023 rookie season, he averaged 4.5 targets and 3.5 catches. Those numbers doubled for Rice over the final 10 games counting the playoffs and Super Bowl LVIII.
"Each week [Rice] was growing and becoming more and more comfortable in both what we were doing and how it was best for him to be able to accomplish that," said assistant coach Joe Bleymaier, the Chiefs' passing game coordinator. "It's very similar with Xavier. He comes in and you want to focus on what he's good at and then you want to give him complementary things, and he's getting more and more comfortable in kind of those routes or maneuvers against defenses that he maybe wasn't as comfortable with early in the season.
"That doesn't always show up on the stat sheet, but as the season goes, that comfort level starts to show up with him winning routes and catching passes."
Worthy was held without a catch against the Bucs for the first time this season. But coach Andy Reid said the Chiefs still saw progress from Worthy, saying an adjustment he made on his route is what got him so open on the pass where he stepped out of bounds before making the catch.
"He's doing a good job," Reid said. "He just had that stepping out of bounds there, but what a great route. That was an adjustment he made to even put himself in that position off of the route.
"He didn't have his number dialed up as much as he did the weeks in the past. Most of the stuff ended up going to [Hopkins and tight end Travis Kelce], but there will be weeks [when] his number is called up more. That just is how it goes in these games."
Mahomes said the Chiefs don't need Worthy to make a similar statistical jump like Rice did last season because they have more threats than they did in 2023. Outside of Hopkins' big game, running back Kareem Hunt ran for more than 100 yards on Monday for the second time in four games.
Kelce had a career-high 14 catches against Tampa Bay, and the Chiefs are expecting Smith-Schuster back in the lineup shortly. In his last full game, Smith-Schuster had 130 receiving yards against the New Orleans Saints.
"Rashee's season was special last year, and I think a lot of it came in that we needed him to step up and have that role in the offense," Mahomes said. "We've gotten guys in here that I think take off that pressure of having one guy make all those big plays, but I think you'll continue to see big games from [Worthy].
"You've seen it in certain moments throughout the season, the big plays. You've seen certain plays where he's caught the ball and scored touchdowns, and so I think his role will get bigger and bigger within the offense, but I think we're probably more well-rounded as an offense in general so he may not have as big of the numbers and stats that Rashee had last year."
Worthy pointed to the adjustment he made on the route against the Bucs as evidence he's learning more about how to become a more productive player, though he acknowledged he didn't finish the job on the play because he stepped out of bounds.
Correcting mistakes like that shouldn't be difficult. If he does anytime soon, the Chiefs have reason to believe he could have a big second half of the season.
"I say I could do a lot of things better, but if you watch games, you probably see that I've kind of developed a little bit more and see things faster and adapt faster to things now that I probably wouldn't have in the first game," Worthy said. "So I'm ready for more. Whatever they give me, I'm ready for."