Chiefs wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown has been spotted working out with his new quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, just a day after signing with Kansas City as a free agent.
The duo shared pictures of themselves at the gym on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after the 26-year-old Brown signed a one-year deal worth up to $11million with the Chiefs.
Together, they went through several conditioning drills with health, performance and player development coach, Bobby Stroupe, and even raced each other, at one point.
On Monday, when he was unveiled by the Chiefs, Brown recalled holding talks with the team before the 2019 draft. At the time, the former Oklahoma star thought that the Chiefs would select him to pair with Mahomes in their high-flying offense.
Baltimore ended up taking him in the first round before Kansas City had the chance.
But after a detour through Arizona, where the Ravens traded him and where Brown spent the past two seasons dealing with nagging injuries and instability at QB, the speedy wide receiver finally landed in Kansas City – his dream destination for so long.
‘The world has a way of things coming around like that,’ Brown said with a smile at Monday’s press conference.
Despite beating the San Francisco 49ers for their second straight Super Bowl title, the Chiefs knew they needed to upgrade at wide receiver, where rookie Rashee Rice had become the unquestioned leader almost by default. But they refused to rush into a big-money, long-term deal with one of the top free agents and bided their time until the right opportunity came along.
It wasn’t the $50M guaranteed that the Titans gave Calvin Ridley. Or the $26 million guaranteed the Falcons gave to Darnell Mooney. Or the $24 million Gabe Davis got from the Jaguars or even the $15M Curtis Samuel got from the Bills.
No, it was a relatively low-risk, high-upside deal with a wide receiver the Chiefs had coveted since college.
‘They were strong on me,’ Brown said, ‘so it was kind of like, mutual interest. That was very appealing.’
It was the right deal for Brown, too. He turns 27 in June, which means there is still time in his career to turn a productive season in one of the NFL’s most pass-friendly offenses into a much more lucrative multi-year contract next offseason.
‘There’s weapons here,’ he said, ‘and I feel like I can come in and complement the guys they have here. And Coach (Andy) Reid? He’s a mastermind. Patrick Mahomes – I’m excited to work with everyone.’
Brown had his best season three years ago in Baltimore, when he caught 91 passes for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns. He was traded to the Cardinals the following year, where he had 118 catches for 1,283 yards and seven TDs in those 26 games.
Those numbers might seem modest, but consider: Brown had 51 catches for 574 yards and four scores last season, which would have trailed only Rice and tight end Travis Kelce in receptions, yards and TDs for the Chiefs – and he did it in 12 full games.
Brown appears to be motivated, too. Mahomes has invited his wide receivers and tight ends to his home in Texas the past couple of offseasons for what amounts to a voluntary training camp, and he was already looking forward to getting down there.
‘From the outside looking in, he just seems like a guy that’s very passionate,’ Brown explained, ‘And I’m a very passionate person. Wants to do everything necessary to win. That’s what you want. You want to play with someone who is going to push you to the next level. I feel like he’s one of those guys.’
Kansas City still has work to do filling out the offense. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was released and fellow wide receivers Richie James and Mecole Hardman are free agents, while Kadarius Toney could be fighting for a job this season, all of which means wide receiver is still a position of need as free agency continues and the NFL draft looms in April.
The Chief also need to address the starting left tackle position and running back, where there is little behind Isiah Pacheco.
