The Kansas City Chiefs signed wide receiver Hollywood Brown this offseason with the hope he would provide a much-needed playmaking threat for Patrick Mahomes. Unfortunately for the offense and the Chiefs Kingdom, Brown won’t be seeing the field for a long time.
Brown suffered a shoulder injury in Kansas City’s preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Originally designated as questionable to return, the team later announced that the former first-round pick suffered a dislocation of his sternoclavicular shoulder joint which required brief hospitalization.
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The original timeline for Brown projected him to miss several with, in all likelihood being kept out for the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens with a chance at a Week 2 return. On September 2, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Brown had a real chance to make his Chiefs’ regular-season debut in Week 2.
However, Brown was still listed as a non-participant on the Chiefs injury report leading up to Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. On Friday, NFL insider Jordan Schultz that Brown would need surgery to repair his dislocated SC joint and the team placed him on injured reserve. While landing on IR automatically rules out a player for the next four games, the Chiefs’ speedster will miss significantly more time.
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According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Brown is now expected to miss the remainder of the 2024 NFL season due to shoulder surgery. For the time being, he is not expected to see the field for the entirety of the regular season, but the Chiefs are hoping that he has a chance to return for the NFL playoffs.
In a best-case scenario, Brown won’t rejoin the Chiefs offense until mid-January which only gives him a slight chance at being available for a Divisional Round matchup. More likely, if he’s cleared to return, it would be for the 2024 AFC Championship Game if the Chiefs advance that far.
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Without Brown for the remainder of the regular season, the Chiefs offense will be even more dependent on wide receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy. The NFL is not expected to suspend Rice this season for a variety of off-the-field incidents that occurred this offseason. Brown’s absence will also open the door for JuJu Smith-Schuster and Skyy Moore to receive more snaps.
