Brown: Chiefs will let me 'showcase my skill set'

Marquise Brown hasn't been able to perform at his best in recent years, but the new Kansas City Chiefs receiver is optimistic that joining the reigning Super Bowl champions will help him regain his top form.

"That's probably what I'm excited about the most being here is to just put my best foot forward and show what I could do," Brown said Monday, according to ESPN's Adam Teicher. "I feel like I'll be able to showcase my skill set."

"I can affect all three levels of the game - short, intermediate, and deep," added Brown, who spent the last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals after beginning his career on the Baltimore Ravens. "I feel like (at) times in Baltimore and in Arizona, I showed facets of things that I could do but not on a consistent basis. So, I feel here, guys are interchangeable. We can complement each other and, that way, the best can come out of everyone."

Brown posted a career year with 91 catches, 1,008 yards, and six touchdowns in 2021 during his last season with the Ravens, who traded him to the Cardinals during the 2022 offseason. The 26-year-old, however, battled injuries in Arizona and regressed in both of his campaigns with the team. He caught 51 passes for 574 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games in 2023.

The 2019 first-round pick hit free agency for the first time in 2024 and recently signed a one-year deal worth up to $11 million with Kansas City. Brown implied that he had more lucrative offers from other teams this offseason but couldn't pass on the opportunity to play with Patrick Mahomes and Co.

"When the Chiefs are interested in you, it's like, alright, you've gotta take a look at that," Brown said, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "Of course, I can go get some money at other places. But at the end of the day, it's about winning. It's about what I want."

The Chiefs were interested in selecting Brown during the 2019 draft before Baltimore took him 26th overall, notes Teicher. Kansas City, which didn't pick in Round 1 that year, ultimately added wideout Mecole Hardman with the No. 56 choice.

"I thought I was going to get drafted by the Chiefs when I was coming out," Brown said. "We talked about that since I've been here, that they did a lot of work on me. The world's got a way of having things come around like that."

Brown will add experience and speed to a creative Chiefs offense that struggled at wide receiver in 2023. Kansas City led the league in wideout drops during the regular season.