Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City’s veteran wideout spoke to reporters after signing a one-year contract for 2025.
Expectations were high after veteran wide receiver Hollywood Brown joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024.
Throughout the offseason (and the early parts of training camp), Brown and quarterback Patrick Mahomes appeared to be building a special connection that fans eagerly anticipated seeing on the field. Unfortunately, the first taste of the pairing didn’t end well.
In the Chiefs’ preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mahomes completed an 11-yard pass to Brown on the offense’s first snap. But on Montaric Brown’s tackle, the wideout suffered a sternoclavicular joint injury that ultimately required surgery. He didn’t make his regular-season debut until Week 16.
Brown now acknowledges that after missing most of the season, he couldn’t really get going.
“It was tough,” he told reporters on Thursday after signing a one-year contract to remain with Kansas City. “But I tried not to think about it because I was just so happy to be there and — in whatever way I [could] — help. Of course, it was tough getting cleared and going from doing nothing to practicing — and then the next week playing. It was tough, but you’ve got guys around that rally everyone — and I’m a pro.
“I studied and got myself ready to go to help the team. [I’m] just excited to now be back in the offseason, really training my body to prepare to be even better than I was.”
While Brown knows he couldn’t truly prove himself last season, he believes the team’s decision-makers know they can count on him.
“The people in the building — my teammates [and] my coaches? [They] carried me a long way,” he recalled. “They know the type of guy I am. They know the type of work I put in. Essentially, that’s one of the reasons I got brought back.
“The few games I played, I was there. I was able to open things up for the offense a lot, but wasn’t really involved that much. I know the impression that I left... I want to show the whole Chiefs Kingdom what I can do.”
Brown’s injury was not the only setback that Kansas City’s wide receiver group suffered in 2024. After a scorching hot start, Rashee Rice was lost to a knee injury. Of the expected starters, rookie Xavier Worthy was the only one who dressed for all 17 games. After being released from the New England Patriots, veteran wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster was brought back to fortify what had been expected to be a top-tier group.
With Smith-Schuster also back on a one-year deal, the Chiefs will try again in 2025. Brown believes he and his teammates will rise to the occasion.
“The sky’s the limit,” he declared. “We talk all the time about history and the team we’re on — the team history, our history as a group, our history as individual players. That stuff we speak on, that’s stuff we’re striving for through...
