Travis Kelce injures Kansas City Chiefs teammate Xavier Worthy in disastrous start to new season
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Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy was knocked out of his team's season opener after taking a friendly-fire hit from Travis Kelce on one of the first plays of their game in Brazil against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Worthy was running an under route on a pass play during the game at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo and was not looking when he collided with Kelce in the middle of the field.
After slowly getting up, Worthy was seen walking to the locker room with trainers as he had a towel draped over his head. He was examined with X-Rays before being officially listed as out for the rest of the game.
Losing Worthy would be a devastating blow to a Chiefs receiving corps which is already missing its top target.
Wideout Rashee Rice is not suited up for Kansas City as he is serving a six-game suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy.
Rice has been in legal trouble for over a year since he was involved in a high-speed, hit-and-run car crash on a Dallas highway in March of 2024.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce collided with one of his teammates, knocking him out of the game
Kelce collided with top wide receiver Xavier Worthy as they both ran a passing play route
In July, Rice pled guilty to a third-degree felony count of collision involving serious bodily injury and a third-degree felony count of causing bodily injury.
Rice was sentenced to five-years probation and 30 days of jail time and was ordered to pay $115,481.91 to victims for medical expenses.
Additionally, Rice settled a lawsuit filed by two victims by agreeing to pay $1million plus their legal expenses. He still faces another lawsuit from a different victim.
In Rice's absence, the Chiefs hoped to lean on Worthy for most wide receiver targets. But now, they'll need to look elsewhere on the depth chart.
Other pass catchers on Kansas City include Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, and Jason Brownlee.
In his rookie season in 2024, Worthy finished second in receiving yards behind Kelce - making him first among the team's wide receivers. He hauled in 59 of 98 targets for 638 yards and a team-leading six touchdown catches.
Losing Worthy for an extended period of time could spell trouble for the Chiefs' hopes early in the season.
Worthy walked to the locker room with a towel over his head before being ruled out
The Chiefs have already lost receiver Rashee Rice for six games due to a suspension
After this contest, the Chiefs play the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Detroit Lions over the next five games.
As for the man who injured him, Kelce is playing this game without the attendance of his fiancée and pop icon Taylor Swift.
Despite local reports indicating that she would be in the audience, sources told Daily Mail that she did not travel to Brazil.
'The travel and the cost and most importantly the security, which goes along with the aforementioned travel and cost are all the reasons Taylor didn't go to the game to see Travis play,' a source revealed.
'She would have wanted her security team there a few days ahead to make sure everything was OK. So, with all of that combined, it would have been a tremendous cost for only a few hours to be in the city.'
After briefly considering retirement, the 35-year-old Kelce could be playing in his final season and is hoping that 2025 is a massive improvement on the year prior.
Last year, Kelce had a career-low mark for yardage (823), yards-per-catch (8.5) and touchdown catches (3) in a frustrating campaign.
In the first game of the season, Kelce caught two passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. However, Kansas City came up short - falling 27-21 to the Chargers.
Up next, the Chiefs will host the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of Super Bowl LIX.
Daily Mail
