Cam Taylor-Britt is keeping the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Kansas City Chiefs rivalry alive and well entering their Week 2 matchup on Sunday.
The third-year cornerback did so by giving one of Kansas City’s young stars, rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, a lukewarm review.
Worthy was a big-time playmaker for the Chiefs in their Week 1 win over the Ravens. He logged 68 yards on just three touches and scored twice, once on a 21-yard jet sweep and once on a 35-yard touchdown catch from Patrick Mahomes.
In both instances, Worthy outran the defense with his straight-line speed. That didn’t impress Taylor-Britt much, as he revealed when asked what the first-round pick brings to the Kansas City offense.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
‘Speed. That’s about it,’ Taylor-Britt said, per Caleb Noe of WPCO. ‘He can run straight. Run jet sweeps and just run straight. He can’t do too much else, so that’s about it.’
Taylor-Britt explained that he believed there was a simple way to get the young pass-catcher off his game.
‘I feel like if you put your hands on him, he’s only a hundred-some pounds,’ Taylor-Britt said. ‘So if you put hands on him, you’re gonna stop his speed, so basically get your hands on him.’
Worthy does weigh just 165 pounds and 5-11, so he is on the smaller side for an NFL receiver. Given that Britt weighs 200 pounds, he would potentially have the physicality edge in any 1-on-1 against Kansas City’s newest weapon.
Still, it’s worth noting that Worthy did significant damage against the Ravens despite getting the ball just three times. He may be able to repeat a similar feat against the Bengals if Cincinnati has any lapses in coverage.
Worthy and the Chiefs seem likely to use Taylor-Britt’s comment as bulletin-board material entering their Sunday showdown with the Bengals. They were already taking the contest serious given the rivalry the two teams have developed over the past five years as two of the AFC’s top contenders.
Even so, Taylor-Britt’s diss may give the Chiefs some extra juice, much like when the two teams met in the 2023 AFC championship game. That meeting came after Cincinnati spent the week referring to Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium as ‘Burrowhead’ because of quarterback Joe Burrow’s success at the stadium.
The Chiefs ended up winning that contest 23-20 to get to the Super Bowl.
