The negotiating period involving the standout wide receivers from the 2019 draft class primarily occurred during the spring and summer of last year. This crop brought eventful developments — from the A.J. Brown trade to the Deebo Samuel trade request to the Steelers deviating from their primary one-contract receiver pattern to extend Diontae Johnson — leading up to Week 1.
Brown, Samuel, Johnson, Terry McLaurin and D.K. Metcalf signed extensions — two-, three- and four-year deals among the group — between April and August of last year. This all transpired as Marquise Brown requested and received a trade, going from Baltimore to Arizona. Considerable changes have taken place in the time since that trade, leading Brown into some uncertain territory.
Kyler Murray struggled in 2022, a season that ended with the Pro Bowl passer suffering an ACL tear. The Cardinals then booted Kliff Kingsbury and GM Steve Keim, who had signed off on bringing Brown to the desert in a trade package involving a first-round pick. After the Cardinals pivoted to a rebuild, Brown loomed as a logical trade candidate. But Arizona was uninterested in dealing its top wideout. Brown had sought a long-term extension during the 2022 offseason. And, despite a new regime in power, Brown looks to remain in the Cardinals’ plans.
The fifth-year wideout confirmed (via the Arizona Republic’s Bob McManamon) his agent and the Cardinals have begun negotiations on an extension. Brown, 26, is playing out his fifth-year option season. Keim signed off on picking up the ex-Ravens first-rounder’s option upon trading for him last year, but Brown has played in out in an unexpected environment — one that featured eight Joshua Dobbs starts after the team cut Colt McCoy just before the season. Still, Brown wants to remain with the Cardinals beyond his rookie contract.
“I want to be in Arizona,” Brown said, adding (via McManamon) he “100%” expects to sign a new Cardinals contract. “The feel from it is they want me here, too. I leave that to my agent and I just do what I’ve got to do on the field.”
Brown’s option represents the only notable money tied up in the Cardinals’ receiving corps. Rookie-deal players Rondale Moore and Michael Wilson are among Brown’s sidekicks, and Jonathan Gannon brought Zach Pascal with him — on a low-cost deal — from Philadelphia. Brown sought a trade out of Baltimore due to both the Ravens’ run-based style and the presence of Murray, whom Brown helped to a Heisman Trophy in 2018. Brown did not match even his second-best Ravens season in his first Cardinals slate, totaling 709 receiving yards. This year, his yards-per-game number is down from 2022 — 59.1 to 44.2 — though the 5-foot-9 target has already topped his TD total from last season, scoring four.
Murray being back stands to aid Brown as well, potentially boosting his value down the stretch in this contract year. The 2019 draft’s WR muscle came from Rounds 2 and 3, and the teams involved in those negotiations had those players in contract years in 2022. With a fifth-year option in Brown’s contract, the Cardinals had more time. GM Monti Ossenfort has exclusive negotiating rights with Brown until the March legal tampering period.
Brown would be an interesting commodity on the 2024 market. As of now, Mike Evans and Tee Higgins are en route to headline the 2024 class. But both could conceivably end up staying with their respective teams — via another extension (in Evans’ case) or the franchise tag (in Higgins’) — and create another buyer’s market rivaling this year’s wideout landscape. Brown has a 1,000-yard season on his resume (2021) and would command a nice contract, but a strong finish to this season would better his chances of a lucrative second deal. It would be unlikely if Brown approached the McLaurin-Metcalf-Samuel tier ($23.2-$24MM per year), but aiming for the kind of pact Johnson fetched (two years, $36MM) would seemingly be reasonable for the Oklahoma-developed speedster.
