Bengals playing mind games with Chiefs’ 2024 NFL Draft first round pick Xavier Worthy
Xavier Worthy dazzled in this NFL debut in Week 1. The No. 28 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft showcased his record-breaking speed and gave Patrick Mahomes something the rave about in helping the Kansas City Chiefs outlast the Baltimore Ravens in the season opener. But the two-touchdown performance didn’t impress everyone in the NFL.
With the Cincinnati Bengals roaring into Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Chiefs in a Week 2 battle that was headlined by a Mahomes vs Joe Burrow battle, Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt put the attention on Worthy with a bit of bulletin board material.
“Speed. That’s about it,” Taylor-Britt said in an assessment of Worthy. “He can run straight. Run jet sweeps and just run straight. He can’t do too much else, so that’s about it. I feel like if you put your hands on him, he’s only a 100-some pounds, so if you put hands on him, you’re gonna stop his speed, so basically get your hands on him.”
Xavier Worthy's speed makes the Chiefs' offense multi-dimensional
Though an honest assessment, the last thing the Bengals need to light a fire under the Chiefs’ offense, especially for a team coming off an opening week loss at home to the New England Patriots. But, to give the Bengals credit, they have played the Chiefs tough whenever they battle and perhaps Taylor-Britt’s motivation wasn’t to provide Worthy or the Chiefs with bulletin board material, but to get in Worthy’s head a bit as his slender size was viewed as a weakness entering the 2024 NFL Draft.
With Hollywood Brown out for the season, there will be more emphasis on getting Worthy involved in the offense. That along with Taylor-Britt’s words could lead Mahomes to look the rookie’s way a bit more which could take the Chiefs out of their offense. That could give Cincy the upper hand in the matchup. It could also need to a nightmare as the shade thrown Worthy’s way could make him that much faster in person. It’s easy to say getting physical with speed can slow it down, but you must get your hand on that speed first.
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So, in Week 2, Worthy vs the Bengals’ secondary will be an X-factor in the game. The defending Super Bowl champions do have other ways to win on offense, but if the Bengals set their attention on clamping down on the speed of Worthy, it will make Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense more diverse as the offense proved to be much more dangerous with the rookie on the field in Week 1.
As for the mind game, Taylor-Britt’s assessment could backfire and have the Bengals defenders playing against speed rather than playing matchups.