Why Chiefs’ Matt Nagy went bonkers after one play at camp — and what excited him most

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is not proud of his dance moves.

On Sunday, after quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed a 60-yard touchdown pass across his body to rookie Xavier Worthy, Nagy admits he was pumped up — and probably even too much so.

Online video clips showed the 46-year-old Nagy rejoicing with both hands in the air before whirling a fist-pump uppercut. After that, he does some high-stepping on the field while swinging his arms in a swimming motion.

“I definitely got too excited for that play,” Nagy said with a smile on Wednesday. “I’ve got to contain my emotions a little bit.”

Nagy had a valid reason to be juiced, though.

The Chiefs offense, for a snap, showed an ability to execute a deep throw — something it’s struggled with for much of the last two seasons.

One part stood out most: Worthy’s route to the football. The Chiefs have had fast receivers the past two years, but too often, they struggled to gauge where the ball might ultimately land.

When the Chiefs traded up to select Worthy in the first round of April’s NFL Draft, most knew about his speed after he set a new NFL Combine record in the 40-yard dash time.

The bigger question would be what other attributes he could bring.

And that part is what made Sunday’s deep pass so exhilarating for Nagy.

“The throw, the play, the execution: It’s exciting, because it was really the first time that we’ve had that type of play with Xavier,” Nagy said. “You get a guy that wants it so bad. Pat wants it to be able to connect with him. And so when that happens, especially early in the practice, it’s just a good feeling.”

On this play, Worthy peeked at the football early before subtly altering his path to its intended location.

Chiefs receiver Hollywood Brown called Worthy’s adjustment on the throw “impressive.”

“Just to be running at a top speed, tracking the ball running sideways,” Brown said, “it’s not something easy to do.”

Nagy also lauded Worthy for avoiding a jam at the line of scrimmage with press coverage, which allowed the pass to operate on schedule. In the end, that meant Mahomes’ pass was just the right length — instead of sailing a few yards past where Worthy could get to it.

For all the encouraging signs with Worthy, the Chiefs also understand he needs to get back out to the field soon. Worthy sat out the last three days of practice with an illness, which has only continued a disjointed start to his career; the 5-foot-11, 165-pound wideout also missed Organized Team Activities and mandatory minicamp over the summer with a hamstring injury.

“Being able to get him out here when we can will be beautiful rep-wise, timing-wise,” Nagy said. “And the one day that he was out here, I think it was exciting to see and feel the speed.”

The hope, for the Chiefs, is that Worthy allows the offense to eventually thrive in a way it couldn’t the last two seasons.

“Coach (Andy) Reid likes to go deep,” Nagy said. “So we’re gonna try to go deep as much as we can, and then play off of what we have or what they give us.”