After two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, wide receiver Marquise Brown is heading to his third team of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. Brown was traded to the Cardinals during the 2022 NFL draft from the Baltimore Ravens in exhange for a first round pick, that ended up turning into center Tyler Linderbaum. Brown was part of a Ravens' offense that was a run-heavy unit in which Brown only reached 1,000 receiving yards once in his career in Baltimore.
Making the transition to the Cardinals with quarterback Kyler Murray, the hope for Brown was to prove what kind of receiver he can be in this league with the speed he has. That hope was yet again put on hold with the lack of opportunities taken by Brown in two seasons with Arizona. While part of it was because of Murray tearing his ACL late in the 2022 season, Brown was also not a great contributor on the field. With having only one game of 100+ receiving yards in two years with the Cardinals, Brown will try once again in a different location with the Chiefs.
In free agency, Brown signed a one-year deal that is worth up to $11 million, per Dianna Russini. This is a very similar setup that the Chiefs did with wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster back in 2022. When Smith-Schuster had a rough ending with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Chiefs signed Smith-Schuster to a prove it deal and allowed Smith-Schuster to contribute to the offense that eventually led him to a three-year deal with the New England Patriots.
However, Brown will not live up to this contract that was given by Kansas City.
Forget the fact that Brown hasn't played a full season in two years, but the Chiefs already have a guy in Rashee Rice who rised as a rookie receiver that helped Kansas City in the playoffs. Tight end Travis Kelce is still there, despite the eye test showing a bit of a decline. In addition, the Chiefs discovered that their running game with Isaiah Pacheco is a lot more valuable than fans may think.
This is not to say that Brown is going to be a disappointment, but the money he was given is a lot for a guy who has had one year of 1,000+ receiving yards and is averaging 640 yards per season the last two years.