KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wide receiver Hollywood Brown never considered moving on after his one brief season with the Kansas City Chiefs. Brown simply has too much unfinished business.
“I knew all along I wanted to be back,” said Brown, who re-signed with the Chiefs before free agency started on his second one-year contract. “They voiced their opinions, wanting me back … I know I had a great start to my camp [before] getting hurt. We all wanted to see it come together. So glad we got it done.
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“They know the type of guy I am, the type of work I put in and essentially that’s one of the reasons I got brought back is because a few games I played, I was able to open things up for the offense a lot.”
The Chiefs acquired Brown last year along with rookie Xavier Worthy in the hope the two fast receivers could bring the big play back to the passing game. The two were to join Rashee Rice to give the Chiefs what they believed would be their deepest group of wideouts in years.
The three were never on the field at the same time. Brown suffered a sternoclavicular injury on the first play of the preseason and by the time he returned late in the regular season, Rice was out for the year with a knee injury.
Brown played in just two regular-season games, catching nine passes for 91 yards. He also played in all three Chiefs postseason games, getting five receptions for 50 yards.
The Chiefs still saw enough from Brown to make his re-signing a priority before he was able to get on the free agent market.
“What impressed me so much about Hollywood is that everybody told me he was a fast guy but not everyone told me how much he can actually do on the football field and you could see it,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “He can run those over-the-middle routes. He can run really good routes and he can run deep. It’s not like fast is the only thing that he can do.”
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Rice was leading the league in catches with 24 when he was injured in Week 4. Worthy had a promising rookie season with 59 catches and 638 yards. He also scored nine touchdowns.
The Chiefs re-signed Brown to give the group of three receivers another try this year.
“The sky’s the limit,” Brown said. “We talk all the time about history … our history as a group, our history as individual players and that’s stuff we speak on and that’s stuff we’re striving for through the offseason, through our training. We’re trying to push each other to be the best. Ultimately I do feel like we could do something that’s never been done before.”
That might depend on Brown contributing as the Chiefs envision he will. Rice, the Chiefs’ top wide receiver in 2023, and Worthy, their leading wideout in 2024, are established in Kansas City.
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Brown is the one who is unproven, at least in one of their uniforms. But the Chiefs made no secret before Brown was re-signed that they wanted him back.
“Every time Hollywood catches the ball, it’s just a burst of energy,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “We missed that guy a lot [during his injury]. I was watching him in practice when he first got back. I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s the guy.’ We missed that guy.
“He’s one of those guys that you could feel his presence when you’re out there on the field with him.”
Brown, 27, hasn’t played a full NFL season because of injuries since 2021, when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. That season, he had career highs with 91 catches and 1,008 yards.
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He may not get those numbers for the Chiefs even if he plays for a full season. The Chiefs will also get the ball to Rice, Worthy, Kelce and others.
But Brown suggested personal stats weren’t the most important consideration in re-signing.
“I think just the environment,” Brown said. “The atmosphere every day coming to work just felt like for the first time in my career I was getting where I wanted to be every day, coming to work, getting better and getting better. So I knew that was a place and environment I wanted to stay in.”
