The Kansas City Chiefs finally made their splash at wide receiver. Former Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens pass-catcher Marquise ‘Hollywood' Brown has signed a one-year deal in free agency with the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Brown will reportedly earn up to $11 million in 2024, with $7 million guaranteed.

The No. 25 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, Brown spent the first three seasons of his career with the Ravens, quickly establishing himself as a favorite target of franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson. He truly broke out in 2021, finishing with 91 catches for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns. Brown requested a trade during the offseason, though, heading to Arizona on draft night along with a third-round pick in exchange for the 23rd select of the 2022 NFL Draft, which the Ravens used on Pro Bowl center Tyler Lindenbaum.

Brown wasn't as productive with the Cardinals, beset by the team's substandard quarterback play once Kyler Murray tore his ACL in Week 11 of the 2022 season. He felt Murray's absence most last season, finishing with 51 catches for a career-low 574 yards and two touchdowns while catching just 50.7% of his targets, also a personal-worst. Murray returned to the field in Week 10, but he and Brown never got on the same page before the latter missed the last three games of the season with a heel injury.

Hollywood Brown's potential role with Chiefs

Standing just 5'9, 180 pounds, Brown possesses the deep speed needed to threaten the last level of the defense, a dynamic Kansas City sorely missed last season. Andy Reid will surely take advantage of Brown's quickness with quick slants and screens, as well as on gadget plays in short-yardage situations. Brown isn't known for his ability to test the middle of the field, but he's at least shown the natural receiving skills needed to present Mahomes options no matter where he's lined up and running routes.

Expect the 26-year-old to make an immediate impact in Kansas City, surely emerging as one of Mahomes' top-two wide receivers alongside Rashee Rice, who impressed as a rookie. There's also a chance Brown reverts back to the peak form that made him a true No. 1 wideout with the Ravens now that he'll be catching passes from another elite quarterback. The pressure the Chiefs put on defenses with Travis Kelce, Rice and hard-charging running back Isiah Pacheco will no doubt make life much easier on Brown than it was in Arizona.

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Kansas City's wide receiver room last season was arguably football's worst, the type of debilitating weakness that seemed bound to doom their hopes of repeating as Super Bowl champions. Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore were massive disappointments, while Marques Valdez-Scantling joined them by making his fair share of game-changing gaffes. Reid pared down the playbook toward the end of the regular season, though, setting the stage for a simplified offensive approach in the playoffs that prioritized getting the ball to Kelce, Rice and Pacheco.

The result was another Vince Lombardi Trophy, but even Kansas City's improved postseason offense lacked the big-play punch and overall reliability that's been its hallmark during the Mahomes era. Brown isn't Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr. or Mike Williams, the type of bonafide WR1 who Chiefs fans have longed for ever since Tyreek Hill was traded to the Miami Dolphins. It'd be optimal if Brown didn't have the chance to hit the open market again this time next year, too.

But Kansas City has won two Super Bowls since parting ways with Hill, and it's certainly not unreasonable to expect Brown to make a similar impact to Juju Smith-Schuster's in 2022. If Brown is better than that? Mahomes' Chiefs could be dominant as ever offensively at times, teaming with a defense that was elite last season to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat as Super Bowl champions.