How Will Marquise Brown Fit With Kansas City?
Photo Credit: Felisa Cardenas/Arizona Sports
The Kansas City Chiefs recently signed wide receiver Marquise Brown to a one year, $11 million contract. Brown spent the first three years of his career in Baltimore, and the last two in Arizona where he battled through injuries. He now comes to the Chiefs as their number two wideout and will be a great addition to this offense. Here’s how he will complement Patrick Mahomes in hopes of a Kansas City three-peat.
Dynamic Presence on the Outside
In 2023, Brown played in only 14 games. In those games, he lined up on the outside on 509 snaps (271 left, 238 right), which is the most out of all Kansas City receivers who will be on the 2024 roster. The next most is Justin Watson, who lined up outside on 229 snaps. With Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce taking most of the snaps in the slot, look for Brown to spend most of his time out wide, like what Marquez Valdes-Scantling did a year ago.
When lined up outside in 2023, Brown had 26 receptions for 319 yards. For the Cardinals, he ran lots of shallow cross routes, smoke screens, fades, and out routes. His ability to run the entire route tree and make plays with the ball in his hand will complement the likes of Kelce and Rice well.
Take the Top Off Speed
First off, Marquise Brown is not Tyreek Hill. No one is. Many people have been making comparisons since this signing and while Brown can take the top off like Hill did in Kansas City, he won’t do everything that Hill did, especially coming off this heel injury.
Now, if Brown is anything like his old self that had over 1,000 receiving yards in 2021, his ability to stretch the field combined with the arm talent of Patrick Mahomes will be scary for defenses around the league. The former track star who ran a 4.27 40-yard dash coming out of college has 13 catches of 40 or more yards in his career, with four coming in that 2021 season. This sluggo he ran that year for a 42-yard touchdown is just one example of how he can get open downfield.
It was somewhat seen with Mecole Hardman last year as to what Andy Reid could scheme up with a guy with one-of-a-kind speed. If that heel can heal up properly, Brown should be a valuable weapon for Kansas City.
On the flip side, no receiver is perfect, and Brown has been far from it recently. His health will always be a question mark from here on out as he hasn’t played a full season since he was in Baltimore, and it clearly hampered him from a production standpoint when he did play. He only had a 50.5% catch rate, which was fourth worst in the league in 2023. While some of those unsuccessful plays were thanks to poor throws from his quarterbacks (which shouldn’t be an issue in 2024) he did have a handful of drops, something that plagued the Chiefs last year.
This is a great signing for Kansas City. Only paying a player who could drastically improve the offense $11 million is a great deal for them and will complement a receiver room that was arguably the weakest in the league besides Rice last year.
