5 Moves to Make if You Have Xavier Worthy

After Patrick Mahomes blew out Rashee Rice's knee last season, there's no way a Chiefs player took out another teammate, right? Unfortunately, it happened again. Just three snaps into the 2025 season, TE Travis Kelce and WR Xavier Worthy collided on crossing routes, with Worthy taking the brunt of the collision, suffering a seemingly dislocated shoulder that will likely sideline him at least for the next few weeks (according to Adam Schefter).

Those who drafted him had high hopes for the sophomore WR, likely locking him in as their WR3/FLEX with the expectation of a WR2 for the first several weeks while Rashee Rice is suspended. Unfortunately, those expectations flew out the window almost instantly, and now fantasy managers must pivot. Here are my top five recommended moves to make if you lost Worthy:

Go Get Marquise Brown

It's the simplest solution: go get the guy's immediate replacement.

It truly is a toss-up whether Hollywood Brown is owned or a free agent in your league (50.2% rostered on ESPN, 24% on Yahoo), so be sure to take a quick look to see if he's available. If he's a free agent, he should be a high-priority waiver wire add if you lost Worthy. If he is rostered, you're going to need to pay up a little to get him - you're likely going to have to give up either a high-end RB4/WR4 or a modest RB3 to get him. If you don't have the WR depth behind Worthy to replace him internally, that's unfortunately a price you'll have to pay to replace him via trade.

At least this past week, it didn't appear that Travis Kelce was the go-to target he had been in the past when Rashee Rice was out. Instead, it was Marquise Brown as Mahomes' primary target, earning an absurd 16 targets and a 39% target share in the season opener. While the production on that volume was a bit underwhelming (10 catches, 99 yards, 0 TDs), it's very encouraging volume for PPR formats.

Until Rashee Rice returns in Week 7, or if Worthy returns before that, Brown forecasts as a safe WR2 option off volume alone.

Trade for Rashee Rice

This is the long-term play - you are conceding that your WR corps will be weak until mid-season. If you have a quality WR duo in your starting lineup that doesn't have a bye week prior to Rice's Week 7 return, this is what I would go with.

You can still get Rice for the cost of a WR3 or even, in rare instances, a RB4/WR4 price tag. Once he returns, he's going to be a top-15, likely top-10 WR for fantasy, especially if Worthy ends up being out long-term.

It's going to be a short-term pain on a move that realistically could win you a championship.

Trade for Ricky Pearsall

Pearsall is likely the most secure bang-for-your-buck WR3 option that you can get at the moment.

He was already set to have a very stable and prominent role in the 49ers' passing attack with Jauan Jennings entering the season nursing a calf injury and Brandon Aiyuk sidelined for at least the first month of the season in his recovery from an ACL tear last year. The Week 1 injury bug, while unfortunate for the 49ers, sets Pearsall up in a favorable way: George Kittle left early with a hamstring injury (is set to undergo MRIs, dealt with multiple hamstring injuries last year), and Jauan Jennings exited (and did not return) with a shoulder injury.

It's TBD on the severity for Jennings, but at the very least, it seems like Kittle will miss time. That means Pearsall is going to be the primary target for Brock Purdy (whose name is not "McCaffrey") for the foreseeable future. He went for 4-108 in the season opener, which was enough to show promise, but not too much to make his acquisition price unattainable.

I'd anticipate he's a WR2 option until Kittle returns, then reverting back to his FLEX/WR3 status after that.

Trade for Jordan Addison

Making a move for Jordan Addison is similar to, but far less extreme than one for Rashee Rice. You're still going to be acquiring a quality fantasy WR at a slight discount due to a suspension. For Addison, it was only a 3-game suspension, so you'll only be without him for two more weeks.

You're going to need to give up your RB3 or a depth RB + your WR4 to acquire him, but he should be a top-30 WR once he returns.

It's not my favorite option to try and replace Worthy, but it is a value option.

Add JuJu Smith-Schuster

I would love for this to be Jalen Royals, but who knows with him - he's been sidelined for nearly 3 weeks due to knee tendinitis. If he returns soon, he's the better stash, but that is a major "if".

As for JuJu, he now goes from a depth receiver to the number-3 weapon for Patrick Mahomes for what seems like at least a month. He stepped in relief for Xavier Worthy and brought in all 5 of his targets for 55 yards in the Chiefs' season opener in Brazil.

He's not going to be the lineup-changing option that the others above will be, but JuJu will by far be the cheapest (and most acquirable) of the group. Expect low-WR3-level production from him until one of Rice or Worthy returns. He's worth a stash in deeper leagues and can be a matchup-based fill-in.