{"id":29041,"date":"2025-02-27T01:18:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T01:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29041"},"modified":"2025-02-27T01:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T01:18:24","slug":"caution-ahead-chiefs-warned-to-be-wary-of-skyrocketing-projected-wr-salary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29041","title":{"rendered":"CAUTION AHEAD: Chiefs Warned to Be Wary of Skyrocketing Projected WR Salary!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tagStyle_1bmarg5-o_O-style_gt0nzj-o_O-sidesPadding_1kaga1a\">\n<div>The Kansas City Chiefs should be very cautious in terms of deciding whether or not they will pay wide receiver Marquise Brown.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrapper_e296pg\">\n<div class=\"wrapper_oenkmd\">\n<div class=\"wrapper_1vgzeyt\">\n<div class=\"style_1q03211\">\n<figure class=\"base_1ruub6q\" data-mm-type=\"image\"><picture class=\"base_1emrqjj\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"base_1emrqjj\" title=\"Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown (5) against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1958,h_1101,x_564,y_169\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01jn08258ky4hdafnmrb.jpg\" alt=\"Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown (5) against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown (5) against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wrapper_brpv6a\">Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown (5) against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images \/ Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inStoryContainer_1r009zu\">\n<div class=\"wrapper_qe1qt7\">\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_dn14odm1i\" data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">Last offseason, the\u00a0<a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_1xkyjxb\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/chiefs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/chiefs\/\" aria-label=\"Kansas City Chiefs - open in a new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0signed wide receiver Marquise Brown to a one-year, $7 million deal to bolster their aerial attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ki4dks1b5\">At the time, it looked like an outstanding move. The Chiefs had just landed a receiver with a 1,000-yard season under his belt for a bargain, and with Patrick Mahomes throwing the football, Brown&#8217;s speed would work wonders in Kansas City.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tout_d_4_4\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"external_HTML\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_41859m241\">Unfortunately, Brown suffered a shoulder injury in preseason, knocking him out for most of they year. He did return in Week 16, but he didn&#8217;t make a significant impact the rest of the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_vmniaby4u\">Now, the 27-year-old is slated to\u00a0<u>hit the free-agent market<\/u>\u00a0again, and given the lack of top-tier talent available at wide out this March, he could be a rather popular commodity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_eatn9346x\">The Chiefs don&#8217;t have a\u00a0<u>whole lot of cap room<\/u>, so retaining Brown may be difficult, and ESPN&#8217;s Bill Barnwell&#8217;s contract projection for the downfield burner is pretty concerning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_yhr3lcboa\" data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">In a piece where Barnwell separated all of the\u00a0offensive free agents\u00a0into tiers, he placed Brown in the &#8220;capable starters&#8221; category, which, by Barnwell&#8217;s calculations, makes him good for an average annual salary between $11-20 million per year.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tout_d_4_5\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_mgoi300vd\" data-uw-rm-sr=\"\">Now, if Brown hits the low end, it would be alright. Sure, Kansas City only paid $7 million for him last year, but $11 million still wouldn&#8217;t be bad for a playmaker of his caliber. But if Brown ends up around $15 million or more? Yeah; the Chiefs\u00a0<u>should probably pass<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_b9dsltjh7\">Brown is a solid player, but he owns a career catch rate of 59.6 percent, and for as fast as he is, he has averaged a very pedestrian 11.6 yards per reception throughout his NFL tenure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_8munyxxcm\">Now, one can point to Brown&#8217;s quarterback situations as a reason for his ordinary numbers, as Lamar Jackson didn&#8217;t throw deep too often during Brown&#8217;s first three NFL seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, and Kyler Murray was injured for a good chunk of his time with the Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tout_d_4_6\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_enagk5f6e\">Still, at some point, Brown needs to be held responsible, and he has clearly not been taking advantage of his best attributes thus far.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_9pl20e3zi\">Is that going to suddenly change in 2025? Or should Kansas City move in another direction?<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_yxcxhfqes\">Well, if Barnwell is right in his projections, then perhaps the Chiefs should look elsewhere for another weapon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs should be very cautious in terms of deciding whether or not they will pay wide receiver Marquise Brown. Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City,&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CAUTION AHEAD: Chiefs Warned to Be Wary of Skyrocketing Projected WR Salary! - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=29041\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CAUTION AHEAD: Chiefs Warned to Be Wary of Skyrocketing Projected WR Salary! - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kansas City Chiefs should be very cautious in terms of deciding whether or not they will pay wide receiver Marquise Brown. 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