Chiefs Place Marquise Brown On IR; WR To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

10:05pm: Brown has officially be moved to IR. When addressing his situation, head coach Andy Reid said Brown’s recovery timeline is now “months not weeks” (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter). That ensures he will miss more than the four-week minimum as Kansas City moves forward without Brown in the fold for the foreseeable future.

11:03am: Marquise Brown‘s SC joint injury will further delay his Chiefs debut. The veteran wideout is being placed on injured reserve, veteran insider Jordan Schultz reports.

The move comes after testing revealed Brown’s injury has not healed correctly, Schultz adds. To ensure a proper recovery, the free agent pickup will undergo a procedure on Monday. Moving to injured reserve will guarantee at least a four-week absence after Brown already missed Kansas City’s season opener.

The 27-year-old suffered the injury in mid-August, and his initial recovery timeline left his Week 1 availability in doubt. He appeared to be making progress, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently reported Brown did not suffer a broken bone. That differentiates his situation from that of Tyreek Hill in 2019 when he suffered a similar injury, but in spite of that Brown will be sidelined for a notable stretch.

The Oklahoma product managed a 1,000-yard season during his third and final Ravens campaign, but his stint in Baltimore generally fell short of expectations. After asking to be dealt, Brown spent the 2022 and ’23 campaigns in Arizona. He saw his yards per reception average dip to 10.9 across that span, but he was still viewed as one of the top vertical options in the receiver free agent market. Kansas City inked him to a one-year deal with a base value of $7MM. Another $4MM is in place via incentives, but Brown’s ability to reach those will be impacted by his extended absence.

Adding at the receiver spot was an offseason priority for the Chiefs, and they followed up the Brown signing by moving up on Day 1 of the draft and selecting Xavier Worthy. The 40-yard dash record-holder had a strong NFL debut by scoring a pair of touchdowns, and he will be counted to remain an impact player in the passing attack. Kansas City also has Rashee Rice, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman and JuJu Smith-Schuster in place on the depth chart.

Brown will be sidelined for the four games remaining until the Chiefs’ bye week. He will be eligible to return after that point, though bringing him back into the fold will use one of the team’s eight allotted IR activations.