🏈Chiefs may be without WRs Xavier Worthy, Jalen Royals against Eagles in Super Bowl rematch

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs could be without Xavier Worthy and rookie Jalen Royals because of injuries in a depleted wide receiver group when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl rematch on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Worthy hurt his shoulder in the opening minutes of the Chiefs’ season-opening loss to the Chargers in Brazil, when he collided with tight end Travis Kelce on a crossing route. Chiefs coach Andy Reid did not provide much of an update on Monday, when he spoke briefly with local reporters, saying only that the team was taking it “day by day.”

“He’s rehabbing and working his shoulder,” Reid said, “and we’ll just see where it goes. See where we end up.”

Royals, a fourth-round pick, did not practice last week and missed Friday night’s game while dealing with a knee injury.

“Jalen is doing a good job with his rehab. We’ll just see how that ends up this week,” Reid said. “We’ve got a couple of days here that we’ve had. Guys are making good progress. But we’ll see where it rolls. If neither (Worthy nor Royals) play, we’ve got guys that we played with the other night that are good football players.”

Still, the loss of Royals and Worthy would leave Kansas City without three of its primary wide receivers against Philadelphia. Rashee Rice already was serving the second game in his six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. It is part of his punishment following a March 2024 car crash on a Dallas highway that injured several people.

The Chiefs were hoping that the speedy Worthy would help them deal with Rice’s absence early in the season, especially after a breakout rookie season in which he led their wide receivers with 59 catches for 638 yards and six touchdowns.

Instead, Worthy was the victim in a friendly fire incident reminiscent of last season, when Rice tore ligaments in his knee when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes collided with him while trying to make a tackle following an interception.

“It was just one of those deals. Sometimes that happens,” Reid said. “You hope it doesn’t very often, for sure.”

Marquise Brown, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, led the Chiefs against Los Angeles with 10 grabs for 99 yards. JuJu Smith-Schuster had five catches for 55 yards and Tyquan Thornton had two for 41 yards.

“Tyquan and Hollywood and JuJu did a great job of filling some of those roles,” Mahomes said after the 27-21 defeat. “That’s someone (in Worthy) that was a huge part of our game plan, and someone that we’re counting on to go out there and make plays against some of the man coverage that they played. I thought guys did a good job kind of stepping up in those roles.”

In other news, Reid tried to sidestep questions about the open-handed slap that Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart delivered to Kelce in the third quarter. Tart was given a personal foul penalty but, because it was an open-handed punch rather than one that was delivered with a closed fist, the officiating crew allowed him to remain in the game.

“I don’t understand that rule. I didn’t — you know, I guess it’s open-hand, fist, whatever. I don’t know all that, what their decision was on that,” Reid said. “He definitely got hit in the head pretty hard, whether it was an open fist or a closed fist.

“I’m not sure how you determine that,” Reid added, “which hurts more.”