The Kansas City Chiefs are returning to action in 2025 with a chip on their shoulder after they got embarrassed in Super Bowl 59 by the Philadelphia Eagles. All eyes are going to be on superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes to see how he responds to arguably the worst loss of his career, and according to the man himself, there's one key X-factor who figures to help Kansas City out in a big way when it comes to their quest to bounce back this upcoming season.

That X-factor would be veteran wide receiver Marquise Brown. While Brown played for the Chiefs during their postseason run, he missed all but two games during the regular season thanks to a sternoclavicular injury he suffered during preseason play. Now, Brown is healthy and has had a full offseason to get ready for the new campaign, and it sounds like Mahomes is expecting big things from him as a result.

“You all saw it in training camp, how special of a football player he is,” Mahomes said of Brown. “He did everything the right way, was in the building early, was in the building late, was teaching other guys. For him to get injured in kind of a freak deal there in the first play of the preseason, it stunk. I was happy to have him back at the end of the season and him to get back within the offense.”

“Now with hopefully him having the full offseason and training camp and staying healthy and continuing to fight through, his role will expand even more. It's kind of hard to throw guys in at the end of the season and try to give them a huge role. I think you can see when he gets the football in his hands and he has a huge role in our offense, it makes everybody go.”

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Patrick Mahomes, Marquise Brown looking to achieve big things in 2025

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Brown was brought in by the Chiefs last offseason to be the team's top wide receiver, but those plans were immediately thrown into disarray thanks to his preseason injury. With Rashee Rice also suffering season-ending LCL and hamstring injury in Week 4, that thrust rookie Xavier Worthy into the spotlight, while the team also swung a trade for DeAndre Hopkins.

Now, Worthy appears to be on the verge of stardom, while Rice and Brown are back healthy. Worthy and Rice will certainly command the most attention given the big games they produced last season, but Brown could be the sneaky producer who emerges as a key weapon for Mahomes under center. That's what the star passer is hoping for at least, and if all goes according to plan, Kansas City could quickly emerge as the top Super Bowl favorite in the league once again.