The 2025-26 campaign was a down one for the Kansas City Chiefs in many regards. At the team level, the organization has its worst season in over a decade. At the individual level, several players struggled to live up to expectations.

One of those pieces was wide receiver Xavier Worthy. The 2024 first-round pick failed to build on a solid debut effort, also battling injuries all year.

With the season in the rearview, he’s done something to correct the issue.

Xavier Worthy Announces Successful Shoulder Surgery on Social Media

Taking to his official X account on Wednesday, Worthy announced that he had successful surgery. A procedure was done to repair a torn labrum following a Week 1 shoulder injury.

“Successful surgery,” Worthy’s post began, with a prayer emoji. “Coming for it all next year let’s work road to recovery.”

Worthy also posted an Instagram story from the hospital following his operation.

Worthy sustained the injury in the Chiefs’ opening drive of Week 1’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. A third-down collision with tight end Travis Kelce forced Worthy out of action, seeing him miss the next three games.

Kelce felt bad about the accident, but Worthy returned to action fairly quickly and played through the pain. He also dealt with an ankle ailment for a big chunk of the year. In all, he wound up playing in 14 of 17 regular-season games, logging 70% of available snaps in those outings.

Following the Chiefs’ Week 12 win over the Indianapolis Colts, quarterback Patrick Mahomes praised Worthy’s toughness.

“He wants to be out there,” Mahomes said. “He’s not in the perfect shape right now as far as the shoulder and then the ankle and the foot and all that different type of stuff, but he’s a competitor. He’s someone that wants to be on the football field, so he’s going to do whatever he can to make plays happen in the biggest moments.

“We called his number there at the end, and he made the play happen. That just speaks to him just continuing to battle through his injuries. No one’s the healthiest right now but at the same time, he’s dealing with a lot and he’s going out there and still playing good football.”

Can Worthy Build on Rough Sophomore Season With Chiefs?

Worthy being on the mend is huge news. For a player as slight as him in stature, there’s little doubt that a significant shoulder injury limited his effectiveness. Additionally, having the ankle issue may have sapped him of his all-world speed.

With that in mind, the former Texas standout sent a clear message as he begins an expected multi-month recovery.

“Keep doubting me y’all are making a monster!” the post read.

Injuries can’t excuse all of Worthy’s lack of development, though. The talented wideout has yet to justify Kansas City’s premium NFL Draft investment in him. After hauling in 59 passes for 638 yards and 6 touchdowns as a rookie, those respective numbers fell to 42, 532 and 1 in 2025. Not only that, but Worthy saw dips in success rate (56.1% to 49.3%) and catch rate (60.2% to 57.5%). His yards after catch per reception also dropped from 6.9 to 4.6.

Advanced metrics didn’t signal much year-over-year growth, either. According to Pro Football Focus, Worthy averaged 1.51 yards per route run as a rookie. That number was 1.25 as a sophomore. ESPN Analytics’ receiver scores ranked him 103rd out of 109 qualified players (updated through the wild-card round of the playoffs). Film did nothing to help Worthy’s case.

With improved health, it’ll be on Worthy to help himself in 2026-27. For the present and future of the Chiefs’ wide receiver room, the club will hope a breakout is on the horizon.