Alvin Kamara explains why Xavier Worthy is the NFL rookie he's most excited to watch in 2024 season
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2017, winning the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Now a seven-year veteran, Kamara has his eye on one rookie from this year’s class who he feels will show out the most. Speaking with former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick on his “Happy Hour” podcast, Kamara gave a shoutout to Kansas City Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy.
“I like the Worthy pick from Texas, receiver for the Chiefs, ” Kamara said. “He’s got real speed. I think he’s got raw talent; I think he has an opportunity to develop. He’s got Pat Mahomes up there, Andy Reid and those guys. I mean, you get your hands on him, it’s like playing with a car with a perfect engine almost. … I’m interested to see because there’s football speed and there’s track speed — he has both and I wanna see it. And then you got Pat throwing you the ball. It’s almost unfair.”
The Chiefs and Worthy seemed like a perfect marriage in the pre-scouting phase of the 2024 NFL Draft, and Kansas City made it a reality with the 28th selection in the first round. As Kamara mentioned, Worthy is a burner the likes of which the NFL has never seen. Worthy, at 5-foot-11 2/8 and 165 pounds, ran a 4.21 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, breaking a Combine record set by Washington’s John Ross in 2017 (4.22).
Patrick Mahomes excited to get to work with Xavier Worthy
Worthy is more than just sheer speed and has the production to back it up. He is coming off a monster year at Texas, totaling 75 receptions for 1,014 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Across three seasons with the Longhorns, he hauled in 197 receptions for 2,755 yards and 26 scores. Worthy earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2021 and 2023 and Second-Team honors in 2022.
He should fit in nicely with the Chiefs’ offense and with three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball.
“You can tell how intelligent he is,” Mahomes said in May “He’s asking the right questions. Before he had the hamstring thing, he was getting … the work in. Sometimes it’s tough with those guys coming off combine training — they want to prove what they can do from Day 1 — and little injuries like that happen. We’re going to be precautionary right now; he probably could get out there if we really wanted him to.
“You can see he’s sitting right beside the guys asking all the right questions, and whenever he does get back on the field, I’m excited to get to work with him.”