Hollywood Brown: The Next Weapon For Patrick Mahomes
By Andy Davies
Marquise “Hollywood” Brown is now a Kansas City Chiefs player, after signing with the reigning champions earlier this month. He is the latest mid-tier receiver for Patrick Mahomes to make look good, and he’ll probably catch for a touchdown at the next Super Bowl.
After three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, who drafted him 25th overall in 2019, he requested a trade from the team. He was traded to the Arizona Cardinals on the night of the 2022 NFL Draft.
However, two seasons, 1,283 yards and seven touchdowns later and he was looking for a new team. The Chiefs came calling and he now gets to catch balls from the best player in the NFL.
Here is how Brown can be effective in Kansas City.
The magic of Mahomes
Let’s face it, aside from Tyreek Hill, Mahomes has never had a great wide receiver. And yes, he does have tight end Travis Kelce as his go-to-guy, but every quarterback needs a second player to rely on.
Since Tyreek Hill’s departure in 2022, it has been a poor showing from the Chiefs wide receivers in the regular season.
Juju Smith Schuster was the lead wide receiver in 2022 with 933 yards but only had three touchdowns.
No one had more than 1,000 yards in 2023 and the top two receivers were Kelce and Rashee Rice, neither of them being wide receivers. In fact, the most yards by any official wideout was Justin Watson with just 460 yards.
Whether it was Smith-Schuster, Kadarius Toney, Mecole Hardman, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, or Skyy Moore, these are not exactly names you come up with when discussing the best receivers in the game. However, Mahomes has made it work despite this when it matters.
In Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles, Toney, and Moore both scored touchdowns, despite 421 yards and two touchdowns between them in the 2022 regular season.
In Super Bowl LVIII, Mecole Hardman caught for the game-winning touchdown despite just 118 yards and zero touchdowns in the 2023 regular season. Marquez Valdes-Scantling had just 315 yards and one touchdown in the regular season and was ridiculed for large chunks of the year for some important drops. However, he made a game-sealing catch in the AFC Championship game win over the Baltimore Ravens and caught for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.
Whether it’s someone like Kelce, who has had seven 1,000-yard seasons in his career, or players such as Hardman, Valdes-Scantling, or Toney, Mahomes can make it work with anyone.
Brown: The next in line
Brown is going to be that next guy for Mahomes. Valdes-Scantling and Hardman are gone and only Rice stands ahead of him as the WR1.
He is less likely to have lowly stats of 200 or 300 yards. It is more expected that he will range between the 700 and 800-yard region. This is likely to solve the Chiefs’ regular season issues of last season, which should send fear into the minds of every other NFL fanbase.
Whether Brown ends the season with 200, 700 or 1,200 yards, he will no doubt be a big part of Mahomes’ offense in the postseason and is likely to make a big play at some point in the playoffs, whether it is in the Wildcard Round or Super Bowl.
The Chiefs should go into the 2024 season as favourites to reach February’s showcase in New Orleans. If they get to the Super Bowl, he will be one of the guys Mahomes leans on.
ANDY DAVIES
NFL ANALYST
ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER FOUR YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD, FINS NATION UK AND EURO TRIPZ PODCASTS AND HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, DOUG PEDERSON, DERRICK HENRY, TREVOR LAWRENCE AND MIKE VRABEL.