Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy arrested for alleged assault in central Texas

Jesse Newell, The Kansas City Star on Mar 8, 2025

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy was arrested Friday and booked into a central Texas jail on suspicion of assault of a family member by impeding breathing/circulation, according to Williamson County, Texas jail records.

A Chiefs spokesperson said Saturday morning the team was aware of the incident and gathering information.

Worthy was arrested in Williamson County, which is located in central Texas just north of Austin. The 21-year-old previously attended the University of Texas at Austin for three years.

As of Saturday morning, the jail log did not indicate that bond had been set.

Austin American-Statesman columnist Cedric Golden obtained a statement from Worthy’s lawyers Chip Lewis and Sam Bassett on Saturday. Lewis and Bassett said they were working with Williamson County law enforcement to make sure they understood the “totality of the circumstances” that led to the allegation.

“The complainant was recently asked to vacate Mr. Worthy’s residence upon discovery of her infidelity,” Lewis and Bassett wrote in their statement. “She has refused to do so and made a number of extortive efforts prior to resorting to this baseless allegation against Mr. Worthy.”

Lewis and Bassett said they would continue to cooperate with Williamson County authorities while believing that an investigation would “support Mr. Worthy’s innocence.”

The Chiefs traded up to select Worthy with the 28th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He was one of the team’s biggest standouts during his rookie campaign, which included an eight-catch, 157-yard performance with two touchdowns in KC’s Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid spoke about Worthy’s potential at last month’s NFL Combine, saying the team only started to see what he could fully do in the last quarter of the season.

“I’m not sure we’ve tapped it all out. I think there’s more,” Reid said of Worthy’s upside. “And that’s exciting.”

Worthy’s arrest is the latest in a string of off-the-field incidents for the Chiefs the last two years.

Most notably, receiver Rashee Rice faces eight charges — including two felony charges — after his March 2024 road-racing incident resulted in injuries to other drivers. A police affidavit stated Rice, who has admitted to being the driver of a Lamborghini Urus vehicle involved, was going 119 miles per hour just before the crash.

Additionally, a Dallas photographer claimed a few months later that Rice had punched him in the face outside a nightclub. A few weeks later, the photographer asked police not to pursue charges.

Rice acknowledged last summer that he was working to improve following those two alleged incidents.

“I’ve learned so much from that. All I can do is mature and continue to grow from that,” Rice said. “This is a step in a better direction for me.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to suspend Rice at some point for breaking the league’s personal conduct policy.

The Chiefs also released defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs last June after two off-field incidents in Alabama. In early May, Buggs was accused of animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa, according to a report from the Tuscaloosa Patch. Then in June, Buggs was arrested by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of domestic violence and burglary.

Also last year, Chiefs offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick were arrested in Kansas and charged with possession of marijuana.

Reid was asked last May whether he was frustrated with the number of off-field distractions.

“We don’t want those things, obviously, to happen. But things do happen, and you work through it,” Reid said then. “And my thing is, it’s important that you learn from it, and that you end it. So that’s important.”

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