Hollywood Brown trade talks show Chiefs are still shopping at wideout

On Thursday night during the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, a pair of young wide receivers changed hands with separate trades featuring both A.J. Brown of the Tennessee Titans and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown of the Baltimore Ravens finding new homes. The former Brown is now with the Philadelphia Eagles while the latter went to the Arizona Cardinals.

What we didn’t know at the time is that the Kansas City Chiefs were right in the mix.

At the end of the day, the Cardinals won the bidding for Brown with a package that included No. 23 overall in the first round—a pick that the Ravens later flipped to drop to No. 25 where they landed the draft’s best center in Iowa prospect Tyler Linderbaum.

The Kansas City Chiefs are still shopping around for a wide receiver in the trade market with the news straight from Hollywood Brown that they put in a bid.

Shortly after the trade, Brown appeared on a video interview with I Am Athlete and answered questions about playing in the Ravens’ system, the trade to the Cardinals, his relationship with Lamar Jackson and more. As part of the discussion, shortly after the six minute mark, Brown drops some interesting info regarding the actual trade talks—specifically that the Chiefs and Green Bay Packers were also interested.

The clip is below:

“I told them I would like to go to the Cardinals,” says Brown. “I think the Chiefs were in play. The Packers… the Chiefs and Packers made a play toward the end and the Cardinals, they came through….”

For weeks, the Chiefs have been connected in rumors and random guesses on the part of NFL analysts trying to help the team fill the Tyreek-sized void after trading away Hill to the Miami Dolphins for five draft choices. Both Browns have been mentioned leading up to the draft as possible trade targets along with Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers and Kadarius Toney of the New York Giants.

Given the lack of anything firm to stand on, it felt like a lot of these were reaches on the part of media members grasping at potential moves rather than anything substantive, but the word straight from Hollywood changes things here. If the Chiefs were in on Brown, then certainly they have been kicking the tires on others. You don’t check the market on Brown without also looking at the price on A.J. Brown and Samuel and a host of others to see what your options are.

The Chiefs ended up holding onto their early round assets in the first round and walked away with a new pass rusher in George Karlaftis and a cornerback in Trent McDuffie. However, they have three more picks on day two and a slew of future picks in 2023 that might give them the ammo they need to land a veteran wideout if there’s one still on the market that they desire.

For fans who thought the team might be content importing a rookie like John Metchie or Skyy Moore, it’s now clear that Brett Veach’s scope of vision is also looking at productive pass catchers already in the league.