5 unfortunate outcomes in the wake of Hollywood Brown's season-ending injury

On Saturday, the news went from bad to worse for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown with the report that the veteran receiver would miss far more time than originally expected with a sternoclavicular injury.

ESPN reporter Adam Schefter broke the news that Brown was going to remain on injured reserve for the Chiefs for far more than the required four games. Instead, he stated that the Chiefs wideout is not expected to play at all in the 2024 NFL season.

While it's entirely possible that Schefter's timeline is incorrect and that somehow Brown could return late in the regular season or even the postseason, the truth now laid bare before Chiefs Kingdom and its favorite team is that the most exciting acquisition in free agency and the assumed WR1 for the team heading into the '24 season is now off the table completely.

Given the severity of the injury, the expectations involved, and the interconnectedness of all parts, the news of Brown sitting out the 2024 season is going to affect quite a bit more than what's obvious on the surface. Although, to be clear, there are points to be made there as well.

Here's a look at a few five unfortunate outcomes in the wake of Brown's injury.

The chemistry experiment remains unproven

From the moment that Hollywood Brown signed on the dotted line to join the Chiefs, the buzz was all about the chemistry developing between the Chiefs' newest signing and their superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Shortly after signing with the Chiefs, Brown was already finding ways to work out with and catch passes from Mahomes along with Rashee Rice in late March. "I would say I've been impressed with how hungry he's been. You can tell he wants it. He wants to win," said Mahomes at the time.

In late May, Andy Reid was already noticing the chemistry between QB and WR and said as much in his remarks to reporters. “Hollywood does a nice job out there as a receiver," said Reid after seeing him officially for the first time. "Looks like he and Pat are developing a chemistry out there."

Two weeks later, the team held their mandatory minicamp in mid-June and Andy Reid said it was, again, a highlight of what he was seeing on offense. "[Mahomes and Brown] have a good connection with that part of it; they’re talking. Once Patrick knows what Hollywood’s thinking — and Hollywood kind of knows where Patrick physically can get the ball to — then that’s a good thing.”

For a player who'd developed such a strong connection so quickly, who found himself so easily enmeshed as a central figure in this offense, the fact that such chemistry will remain unproven when it counts is frustrating for all involved.

Hollywood was ready to love Kansas City

Not only did the Chiefs love what they had in Hollywood Brown, but Brown was quick to love Kansas City in return. Brown was effusive in his praise for all things Chiefs after signing with the team and became an ideal student for the coaching staff as he strived to make himself as useful as possible for a team in search of its third consecutive title.

Even in our recent interview with Brown, he detailed the process of telling his agent to make something happen with K.C. at any cost in free agency and how he was so excited to join the Chiefs alongside Xavier Worthy this offseason.

Certain players have a way of ingratiating themselves into the community as if they've been a part of it all along. They love the city and the city loves them back. They're often hard workers with talent to spare and they become instant fan favorites for one reason or another. Drue Tranquill was that sort of player a year ago and Brown looked like this year's version.

Unfortunately, Brown won't experience the thrill of having Kansas City love him in retunr—to the tune of record-breaking decibels at Arrowhead after scoring a touchdown.

Xavier Worthy shoulders a burden

By now it's no secret: last year was a slog for the Chiefs offense. While that might sound silly to someone unfamiliar with the story, given that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl anyway, the truth is that Patrick Mahomes and company have gone on record in multiple ways describing the frustrating offensive unit from the 2023 season. In short, no one was having much fun week to week.

So much of the blame can be laid at the shortened field within which Mahomes had to go to work. After the trade of Tyreek Hill in 2022, the Chiefs lost the ability to truly stretch the field—and consequently to challenge a defense—with a respected vertical threat. Looking back, Mahomes averaged 7.0 yards per attempt, which is down over a yard from his 8.1 yards/attempt average from his first five seasons as a starter.

From the earliest OTAs following the NFL Draft, the Chiefs were back to emphasizing the deep game. Here's Mahomes from this spring to reporters: “I think we’ve done a great job of mastering the intermediate and short stuff, but we want to get back to having that part of the offense as well… Coach [Andy Reid] is really pushing us to push it down the field. It’s hard to do against our defense but we’re trying to make it happen.”

To accomplish the task of forcing defenses to respect the deep threat, the Chiefs made two major investments: they signed Brown and used their first-round draft pick on Xavier Worthy.

What made the acquisitions so ideal for the Chiefs was that Brown's veteran savvy and experience would provide the ideal cover for Worthy to adjust to the pros. Picture Alex Smith in place for a first-year Mahomes. Worthy could take his time to learn the nuances of the team's offense without having to be its centerpiece. Meanwhile, Brown's own deep speed was more than enough to keep defenses on their heels and force safeties back further than they've liked to play the Chiefs in recent years.

Without Brown, Worthy is now feeling the full weight of those vertical hopes. The Chiefs might try to hedge some of that pressure on a rookie, but the truth is that there's no one else who can carry the offense deep that defenses would respect. It's not Justin Watson nor Nikko Remigio, and it's certainly not Justyn Ross or the ghost of JuJu Smith-Schuster.

Space is at a premium

The reason the vertical game is so important is because of the space it opens up in the short and intermediate games for playmakers closer to the line of scrimmage. You saw it in the season-opening game against the Baltimore Ravens in the way that Worthy's presence allowed Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce more room to work with than ever. Now that space is at a premium.

Will Worthy be able to stay healthy and carry such a burden? The Chiefs are certainly hoping so because their intermediate passing game to the second levels are that much more dangerous when such instinctual pass catchers like Rice, Kelce, and Noah Gray have that much more room to work with. It also makes it much easier to move the chains.

The frustration here is doubled knowing that the team was trying so hard to make life easier for Travis Kelce in his last couple of seasons with the team. Signing Brown was going to give the Chiefs another proven pass catcher with trusted hands who could make music in both the intermediate and deeper passing games for the Chiefs.

Now Kelce is likely going to pick up a bit more responsibility as the Chiefs figure out long-term how they can keep some training wheels on Worthy while still pushing things upfield.

The defense faces a bit more pressure

As we mentioned earlier, there's an interconnected to an NFL roster that cannot be overstated. The Chiefs traded Tyreek and lost some significant offensive juice in the process, but those shifting assets and priorities allowed the Chiefs to build one of the league's most physical defenses—a unit that carried them to a title in Super Bowl LVIII.

This year, the Chiefs spent several million to sign Brown to a one-year deal in the hopes that he can lift the offense. In return, they lacked the money to sign L'Jarius Sneed to a long-term deal or to retain linebacker Willie Gay Jr. on a single-season deal (he left for New Orleans) for a mere $3 million. No team can keep every player, but the goal was to provide the offense with a lift so that the defense didn't feel so much heat.

Well at this point, Spags is going to have to coach up the third-youngest roster in the NFL to not only overcome last year's losses but to also make up for part of the offense that was supposed to balance the scales—like it or not.