On Saturday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs dropped their second straight preseason game with a 24-23 home loss to the Detroit Lions.

But that doesn’t mean the Chiefs didn’t come away without some positives from the game — one of which was getting 2024’s first-round draft pick Xavier Worthy involved right away.

“We had a couple different things in there to try to get him the ball,” head coach Andy Reid told reporters after the game. “You noticed last week he didn’t have a chance — so we tried to get it to him today.”

“It was super important,” offered quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “Obviously, you saw that we were kind of majoring in that early — trying to get him some routes where he can go out there and win.”

Mahomes believes that with both Worthy and second-year wideout Rashee Rice, it’s all about finding a balance.

“You want to not put them [too much in] harm’s way,” he noted, “but you want them to go out there and get some confidence going.”

Thanks to Worthy’s blazing speed, his targets tend to be further downfield — as we saw on a third-and-10 on Kansas City’s opening drive, when Mahomes hit Worthy with a 39-yard pass. Later in the first quarter, backup quarterback Carson Wentz found Worthy on another deep pass after Worthy got over the top of the defense — and found himself wide open in the end zone.

Reid said these kinds of plays will force defenses to respect the rookie.

“Xavier’s speed — and being able to get through — make people honor him,” said the head coach. “So that’s two people on him — [and] that’s a big thing.”

Mahomes pointed out that the touchdown play wasn’t designed to go to Worthy — but since the Lions had chosen to line up in man coverage, Wentz decided he could trust his receiver to beat the defender.

“That’s good for me to see,” said Mahomes, “because then maybe as the game goes on — [and] the year goes on — maybe [we] get a similar type of situation and know that he can win versus that one-on-one man coverage. It’s something that I can put in the cabinet — knowing that I can maybe bring out later in the year.”

Worthy’s speed helps the team succeed on deep routes, while also loosening the coverage on wideouts like Rice and Justin Watson — and eventually, Hollywood Brown.

“It helps open up the whole entire football field,” Mahomes. “He clears out, I think, two or three guys. Then you can hit J-Wat there in that medium-type range. It’s going to help everyone in the entire offense.”

Even the unsuccessful plays — like Mahomes’ deep shot to Worthy on the offense’s second drive, which the Lions defended well — help set the Chiefs’ offensive tone.

“You’re not going to win every rep — but I’m going to try to put it out there,” promised Mahomes. “Even though it didn’t work, you know that it gets noted by the defense. They see it and are like, ‘Ah, do we want to play that coverage — knowing that they will take the chance and throw it deep?’ We’ve just got to know the right time and right place for it.

“Obviously, the defense won that rep. But at the same time, it shows that we are willing to throw the ball down the field.”

Only time will tell if Worthy was worth the 2023 NFL Draft’s 28th overall pick — but so far, the return on that investment looks good.