Xavier Worthy Camp Update — August 23: Still Waiting on a Live Hit

Xavier Worthy practiced through the final week of Kansas City's camp — the Wednesday absence list in St. Joseph was all offensive linemen, per Gabe Swartz at KCTV5 — and then spent Saturday night in Tampa watching again. Joshua Schulman at Sports Illustrated's Chiefs site listed him among four players likely to sit the 16-to-15 loss, with caution about the shoulder sprain given as the reason, and no game report has him taking a snap. Schulman's report adds that a similar shoulder issue hampered him through the 2025 season. That makes two preseason games, zero snaps, and zero live contact for the summer, with one exhibition left.

The June preview of Worthy came down to a single test: the rookie season was the player, the second season was the injury, and the bounce-back could not be underwritten until he proved he could take a hit, because seven-on-sevens prove nothing about a player whose job includes getting tackled. Camp has now ended without that proof. The generous reading is genuine — he returned from the August sprain inside eight days, caught passes daily for two weeks, and the team's handling matches how it treated every healthy starter, since Rashee Rice and Patrick Mahomes have not played either. The stricter reading is also genuine: for most held-out veterans the caution is generic, and for Worthy the reporting names the shoulder specifically.

His most documented act of the week was giving a nine-year-old fan a PlayStation on camp's last day, per Marleah Campbell at KCTV5, which tells you how quiet the football file was. What to watch is the same item, now at its last chance: whether Worthy plays Friday against Seattle and absorbs contact, or arrives at the September opener with the June question still open. Cutdown to 53 is next Sunday; his spot is safe, his proof is pending. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._