Chiefs get incredibly promising injury update for Hollywood Brown

The Chiefs have to be thrilled with the latest news about Hollywood Brown.

When Marquise "Hollywood" Brown first went down in the Kansas City Chiefs' first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, it was completely deflating. The team's biggest offensive acquisition of the entire offseason came up injured after he made his first official catch as a Chiefs wideout and from there, the news went from frustrating to bleak as the weeks went on.

At first, the Chiefs held out hope that Brown would only have to miss a handful of games as he sought advice on how best to handle a sternoclavicular injury. The Chiefs had watched another star wideout in Tyreek Hill go through a fairly similar injury only to return after a month or so. As for Brown, however, the timeline kept growing as it became clear he would need surgery to repair things.

Once Brown hit injured reserve, the original belief was that he was likely lost for the entire season—a situation made doubly worse by the fact that Rashee Rice had also been injured, too, for the rest of the year. Suddenly, the Chiefs' visions of having Brown and Rice as a tandem to help bring along a dynamic rookie like Xavier Worthy was lost.

But as the months went on, Brown began to make claims on social media that he was potentially returning. Then came the official reports from NFL insiders that Brown was indeed eyeing an end-of-regular-season return date, giving the Chiefs a potentially big boost for the postseason.

The Chiefs brought Brown back from the injured reserve list in recent days, which opened up a 21-day practice window in which the team could evaluate him alongside his peers without having him occupy an official roster spot. From there, the Chiefs have to make a decision whether to activate him or place him back on IR for the rest of the season. Well, apparently he is ready.

Reports have gotten even better concerning Brown's return. To hear Ian Rapoport tell it, the Chiefs are expecting him to potentially play in Week 16 because he's looked so good in practice. That means the Chiefs could see Brown get his feet wet with the offense in an important matchup against the Houston Texans on Saturday, December 21.

While Brown will likely need some time to get back into game shape, his veteran status and early chemistry with Patrick Mahomes in the offseason will likely create a faster on-ramp, so to speak, than other players might need coming back from such a long-term injury. Given the team's frustrations on offense, Brown's arrival could be the spark they need to generate real momentum for the postseason.