Texas Football: 3 NFL Draft landing spots for Xavier Worthy
The 2024 NFL Draft class features multiple Texas football players who could be selected in the first few rounds. There are multiple signs that head coach Steve Sarkisian has the Texas program trending in the right direction, entering the SEC in 2024.
A good indicator of how Sarkisian and the Longhorns are trending up as a program this offseason is player development for the NFL Draft. Texas had 11 players invited to the 2024 NFL Draft Combine (per NFL.com), the most in the last 15 years for the Longhorns.
Texas football WR Xavier Worthy projected to be an early Day 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft
Texas also ranks among the five programs with the most combine invitees for this year's draft.
Among the strongest position groups in this draft class from Texas is the receiving corps. Between wideouts and tight ends, there could be as many as four former Longhorns selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
One of the top wideouts in this draft class from Texas is junior stud Xavier Worthy. The elusive and wirey 6-foot-1 and 170-pound Worthy is commonly projected to be a top-three-round pick in the 2024 draft, as he's looked at as one of the 10 best wideouts in this class.
It likely will either be Worthy or Adonai Mitchell that will be the first Texas wide receiver to hear their name called in the 2024 draft. Junior tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders could also hear his name called on the first day or two of the 2024 draft among the players in this class from the Longhorns' receiving corps.
Here are three viable NFL Draft landing spots for Worthy this spring.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have a big decision to make with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft concerning quarterback Justin Fields. Will the Bears trade Fields and select a quarterback first overall?
Or will the Bears keep Fields and try to continue building the roster around him?
Regardless of what the Bears decide for their future quarterback, they have a defined group of positional needs that must be addressed on offense in this draft. The Bears are lacking the support that a viably-productive quarterback needs in the NFL regarding pass protection and weapons in the receiving corps.
Many early-round picks could be spent by the Bears in this draft to upgrade the offensive line and add more skill weapons at wideout and/or tight end. The biggest weapons the Bears have in the receiving corps are DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet.
A wideout such as Worthy could be a good fit for the Bears to get another elusive weapon in the receiving corps opposite Moore. Worthy would give the Bears another wideout who can stretch the field and take some of the pressure and attention from opposing defenses off Moore.
The Bears have shown an affinity before for selecting former Longhorns in the NFL Draft. Last year, the Bears selected Worthy's former teammate, ex-Texas running back Roschon Johnson in the fourth round.
The potential challenge here if the Bears hypothetically were targeting Worthy on Day 2 of the draft is their distribution of picks in the second and third rounds. Worthy is projected to be a second round pick in this draft, which is something the Bears don't have.
Theoretically, if Worthy were to fall a bit on Day 2 of the draft, the Bears could trade up to get very potent and elusive receiver talent. This is a very deep wide receiver draft class in 2024, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Worthy falls further than his value would otherwise indicate.