Hollywood Brown's arrival and the quest for a Super Bowl three-peat

Chiefs Kingdom can finally let out a massive sigh of relief after Brett Veach and the Kansas City Chiefs added a high-profile wide receiver to the team. Throughout the 2023 season, the Chiefs' glaring issue was the wide-receiving corps. Drops and inconsistent play from the position group led to one of the weirdest seasons from an offense led by Patrick Mahomes. The addition of Marquise "Hollywood" Brown will add an instant weapon to the dynamic Andy Reid offense.

Brown was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens with the 25th overall pick. Coming out of the draft, his speed and body type had him compared to Desean Jackson, who made a career taking the top off of defenses, and that is precisely what Brown has done in the NFL.

Brown immediately impacted the Ravens as a three-year starter, and his best season to date was in 2021, when he caught 91 passes for 1,008 yards and 6 touchdowns. After the 2021 campaign, Brown was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. Brown was still efficient, but unreliable quarterback play led to a significant step back in production. in 2023, Brown caught 51 passes for 574 yards and 4 touchdowns with the Arizona Cardinals.

Last week, it was reported Brown would join the Chiefs on a one-year "prove-it" deal worth up to $11 million. Brown will be thrust into the starting lineup and should help return the Chiefs' offense to the high-flying version we saw early in the Mahomes era. I believe Brown can fill the void left by All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill. Brown may not have the ball-tracking skills that made Hill such a dynamic route runner, but he does have the game-breaking speed the Chiefs have been looking for since Hill departed.

Brown did not run the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine during his own pre-draft preparation, but he did run it at his Oklahoma Pro Day, where he recorded a blistering time of 4.27 seconds. This is significant because this was faster than the 4.29 second time that Hill recorded during his Combine appearance. I am not saying Brown will be a Hill replacement, but I do believe he will be used similarly to Hill during his time in Kansas City. I think the number one spot will still belong to the rookie sensation Rashee Rice, but the number two spot will be taken by Brown, who will primarily be used in intermediate and deep routes.

The ability to effectively stretch the field and open up the offense for Kelce and Rice will immediately upgrade the offense, which in 2023 relied on short yardage passes and yards after the catch to succeed.

2024 Predictions

Like I said, I believe Brown will be the number two receiver behind Rashee Rice who had a very good rookie campaign for the Chiefs recording 79 receptions for 938 yards and 7 touchdowns. In 2023, Patrick Mahomes threw the ball 597 times, which means there is a lot of love to go around in the Chiefs offense.

With that said, I believe a conservative prediction for Brown in his first year as a Chief is 63 receptions for 729 yards and 6 touchdowns. When I look at Brown's stats in his career, this lines up except for the 2021 season, which as of right now appears to be an outlier. However, it does prove the potential Brown has to be a game-breaker.

I believe those numbers will go up in 2024 because of the high amount the Chiefs throw the football. If Brown can create those deep-threat opportunities for Mahomes he has shown for the Cardinals and the Ravens, the Chiefs may be right on their way to becoming the first-ever three-peat Super Bowl Champions.