By Nate Taylor, Dianna Russini, Randy Mueller and Doug Haller
Kansas Metropolis Chiefs followers and NFL observers had been ready all week for the staff to make a transfer to enhance its offense. It got here Thursday evening when the Chiefs agreed to phrases with free-agent receiver Marquise Brown on a one-year deal value as much as a most of $11 million, a league supply advised The Athletic.
By buying Brown, the Chiefs addressed considered one of their greatest roster wants. Brown’s preliminary wage, based on a league supply, is anticipated to be $7 million. He can earn one other $4 million by means of incentives.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Brown was rated the 79th-best free agent out there this offseason by The Athletic’s Randy Mueller.
“Brown stays very quick, and he’s been productive for stretches, however he’s additionally battled nagging accidents and caught simply half of his targets in 2023,” Mueller wrote. “He’s very slight and will get knocked off of routes simply, a problem that may be tough for offensive coordinators to scheme round.”
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How he matches
Coach Andy Reid and normal supervisor Brett Veach have all the time valued speedy receivers, and Brown has loads of velocity to be a viable possibility for the Chiefs. Brown must be efficient within the intermediate and deep areas of the sphere for quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs have been determined so as to add a veteran receiver who could be simply as dependable as explosive alongside tight finish Travis Kelce and second-year receiver Rashee Rice.
With the Arizona Cardinals the previous two years, Brown has produced 1,283 yards on 118 targets in 24 video games. The final time the Chiefs had such a productive receiver in a two-year stretch was Tyreek Hill, whom they traded to the Miami Dolphins for 5 draft picks two years in the past.
Brown becoming a member of the Chiefs happy Mahomes, who used his X (previously Twitter) account to put up a beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes emoji.
“Blessed Past Measures,” Brown wrote on his X account Thursday evening. “ChiefsKingdom Let’s Rock.”
Blessed Past Measures…
ChiefsKingdom Let’s Rock 🚨🚀 pic.twitter.com/uHGhDzhf8S
— Hollywood Brown (@Primetime_jet) March 15, 2024
2024 impression
In some ways, Brown, 26, will step into the function held by Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who had the worst season of his six-year final season, producing simply 21 receptions for 315 yards and one landing within the common season. The Chiefs launched Valdes-Scantling late final month. That created $12 million in cap house with simply $2 million in lifeless cash.
Brown’s abilities and expertise ought to ease the burden on youthful gamers on the place, comparable to Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore, each of whom struggled final season. The Chiefs shall be thrilled if Brown can generate 1,000 yards in 2024. Brown’s most efficient season was 2021 when he recorded 91 receptions for 1,008 yards and 6 touchdowns with the Ravens.
Historical past
Brown was a first-round choose by the Baltimore Ravens within the 2019 draft and he spent his first three seasons with the franchise earlier than he was traded to the Cardinals in late April 2022. The Florida native performed his faculty ball at Oklahoma.
.@Primetime_jet will get below the ball to increase the lead for the @AZCardinals!
📺: #DALvsAZ on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/4cQVV3VXVZ— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
Draft outlook
On the NFL mix final month, the Chiefs discovered as a lot as they might concerning the second tier of receiver prospects. Reid and Veach are hopeful that this 12 months’s deep class of receivers will permit the staff to amass one other one for Mahomes, maybe as early as the primary spherical. The Chiefs interviewed a number of receivers through the mix, most notably Brian Thomas Jr. (LSU), Troy Franklin (Oregon) and Xavier Worthy (Texas).
Cap replace
Coming into Thursday, the Chiefs projected to have $15.3 million in salary-cap house, based on Over the Cap. With Brown’s deal, the Chiefs ought to nonetheless have round $8 million out there. The staff might additionally create cap house by buying and selling cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who’s on the staff’s franchise tag at $19.8 million.
From Marquise “Hollywood” Brown’s IG: pic.twitter.com/J9zJGZMZoZ
— Harold R. Kuntz (@HaroldRKuntz3) March 15, 2024
Outlook
The Chiefs knew they wanted extra viable, dependable receivers, particularly a veteran to assist the staff’s offense reclaim its juggernaut standing. In fact, the arms race within the AFC will solely intensify this offseason. The Chiefs have to counter by buying higher receivers for Mahomes. Brown is the primary of these acquisitions.
Reid served because the nearer within the Chiefs’ recruiting pitch to Brown.
“Hollywood, assume Purple as we speak, KC Purple with diamonds!!!,” Reid wrote to Brown in a textual content message Thursday afternoon, together with a winking-face emoji.
Brown shortly responded to Reid: “Sure sir. Love the sound of that. Suppose Hollywood Brown, Lights, Digital camera, Motion.”
Mueller on Brown’s slot in Kansas Metropolis
That is one other try at discovering the velocity receiver the Chiefs hoped to get after they traded for Toney in 2022. Brown can take the highest off defenses, even when they don’t throw the ball to him. It’s extra about needing so as to add velocity than who the velocity comes from.
Brown has been productive in spurts, however his slight body and lack of physicality on contested catches have restricted his effectiveness considerably. When allowed a free launch, he could be very harmful. Enjoying with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, you understand the alternatives will come. The remaining is as much as Brown. This could possibly be a win-win. — Randy Mueller, NFL employees author
The view from Arizona
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon was requested on the mix if he’d prefer to have Brown again. He stated completely however added that there was an financial piece to contemplate. That just about signaled Brown’s days within the desert have been coming to an finish.
Brown wasn’t disappointing in Arizona — he was the staff’s greatest broad receiver final season — however he seldom supplied the explosiveness he was identified for. (With QB Kyler Murray lacking half of final season recovering from ACL surgical procedure, that wasn’t all his fault.) After the Cardinals parted methods with DeAndre Hopkins, Brown grew to become the offense’s No. 1 receiver, though he’s extra of a No. 2. In the proper scenario, he’ll thrive.
With out Brown and Rondale Moore, who was traded to Atlanta, the Cardinals want playmakers. Final 12 months their wide-receiver manufacturing was among the many worst within the league. With the No. 4 choose in April’s draft, they will repair that shortly with Marvin Harrison, Jr. — Doug Haller, Arizona senior author
Required studying
(Picture: Tony Ding / Icon Sportswire through Getty Pictures)