DECEMBER 15: Not playing today, Brown may not be too far from making his elusive debut as a Chief. Good form in his return to practice has made the free agency addition a candidate to resurface in Kansas City’s Week 16 game against Houston, Rapoport offers. While Rashee Rice is done for the season, the Chiefs could have all their remaining wideouts ready to go soon.
DECEMBER 13: Brown is indeed set to practice today, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports. Activation in time for Week 15 could be in play as a result, although that would come as a surprise after very limited work in preparation for Kansas City’s upcoming game. Nevertheless, Brown should be back in the fold in time to see game action before the regular season ends.
DECEMBER 12: Marquise Brown has been cleared to practice, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, positioning the star wideout to get back on the field for the Chiefs after shoulder surgery on his SC joint in September put his season in doubt.
Reports of Brown’s potential to return this year initially emerged in November and intensified last week after the 27-year-old scheduled an appointment with his surgeon to receive final clearance to play. The appointment went well, according to Rapoport, setting up Brown to practice with his teammates for the first time in months.
Kansas City will still be cautious with Brown, who has dealt with several injuries in his football career dating back to his college days at Oklahoma. The team is expected to open Brown’s practice window on Friday or the following Monday. He will have 21 days to ramp up as the Chiefs figure out if he can contribute this season.
Brown’s return could be a massive boost for a Chiefs offense that ranks outside of the top six in passing yards for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. However, Brown is not guaranteed to have a major impact, as he has yet to play a single regular-season snap in Kansas City. He signed a one-year, $7MM contract this offseason, but injured his shoulder in mid-August, minimizing his practice time in a new offense.
Even if Brown is able to play again this year, he won’t be asked to shoulder an especially heavy snap count or playmaking role. Trade deadline acquisition DeAndre Hopkins has settled in well in Kansas City, and first-round pick Xavier Worthy has topped 40 yards in each of his last four weeks after doing so just twice over his first nine games. Putting Brown and Worthy on the field together would give Mahomes one of the fastest receiver tandems in the NFL, which could potentially open up more room for Hopkins and Travis Kelce to operate over the middle.
He’ll be hurt nxt wk.
I think Marquise was under rated for a long time because he never had a quality QB to play with. Then he has the bad luck to get injured. I’m hoping he can finally show the league he can be an impact WR.
I didn’t watch him much in Arizona, but when he was with Baltimore he had an annoying habit of giving himself up after he caught the ball. The Ravens are much happier with Zay Flowers who actually fights for yards after the catch. If Brown wants to be an impact WR he needs to do the same.