Marquise Brown Signs with Chiefs: What it Means for Patrick Mahomes
Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images Pictured: Marquise Brown while with the Arizona Cardinals
Marquise “Hollywood” Brown gets to live out every wide receiver's dream as he’ll be catching passes from Patrick Mahomes this fall.
The former Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals speedster is reportedly signing a one-year, $11-million dollar contract with the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs, who are aiming to win their third straight NFL title.
Brown entered the NFL in 2019 as a first-round pick of the Ravens. He spent three seasons in Baltimore before being traded to Arizona in 2022. The wideout appeared in 14 games last season, catching 51 passes for 674 yards and four touchdowns. His best season came in 2021, when he set career highs in receptions (91) and yards (1,008).
Expert Take
Anytime the Chiefs sign a big-time pass catcher to put next to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, it’s always going to be big news — especially when that guy’s name is literally Hollywood Brown.
The Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill and won a Super Bowl anyway, but even with a repeat performance this year, it’s clear this team’s receiving options just didn’t cut it. Kelce looked old or injured or both all season until the playoffs, and the rest of Kansas City’s options weren’t up to snuff and repeatedly cost the team in big moments all season.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the lone real deep threat and was far too inconsistent. Kadarius Toney made mistakes all year. Mecole Hardman is a gadget player. Skyy Moore hasn’t stepped up. The team found something in rookie Rashee Rice late, but he looks like more of a possession receiver.
The Chiefs clearly needed someone to stretch the field. Believe it or not, Mahomes had the lowest ADOT of any starter this season, in part because of how teams defend the Chiefs now, but partly too because Kansas City just had no weapon opponents had to fear down the field. That all changes with Brown.
Hollywood is so named because of his big play ability, a guy who can take it to the house on any play. He’s Tyreek Hill-lite in many ways, though the Chiefs will hope he’s much closer to Hill than Toney, Hardman and the other failed attempts to replace him.
Brown has only one 1,000-yard season in his career but really became a go-to guy for Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, then showed quick chemistry with Kyler Murray in Arizona. His counting numbers underwhelm but have been hampered by injuries, both to himself and to his quarterbacks. In Kansas City, Brown doesn’t have to be the go-to guy. That’s Kelce, and Rice is No. 2. Brown will be called upon a couple times a quarter to dial it up deep down the field, look for a big play and keep the defense honest so Kelce and Rice have room to operate underneath.
That may not sound like much, but it’s the exact component that was missing from this Chiefs offense all season. That’s the reason Mahomes had a relatively tepid year by his standards — not even in the MVP conversation really, and many advanced metrics near the bottom of the top 10 rather than at the top — and it’s why many doubted Kansas City heading into the playoffs.
The Chiefs restructured Mahomes’ deal to create cap space, and this is the sort of move they did that for. The team clearly went too far skimping at receiver. Mahomes needed some help, and Hollywood Brown is exactly what the doctor ordered. Could star LT Tyron Smith be next?
How would you rate this article?