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, $7M contract this offseason, but he 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.
