Who steps up from depleted Chiefs wide receiver group? It’s a Hollywood story
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Xavier Worthy’s injury and Rashee Rice’s suspension depleted Chiefs' receivers.
- Marquise Brown assumed lead role, posting 10 catches and 99 yards in Week 1.
- Patrick Mahomes credited Brown’s route adjustments and game awareness under pressure.
Three plays into the season opener, the Chiefs’ wide receiver group was thrown into chaos.
A shoulder injury to Xavier Worthy, Kansas City’s top target with Rashee Rice serving a six-game NFL suspension, removed him from the game. And the scramble was on.
Most affected: Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
“I picked up a little,” the Chiefs receiver said. “Everybody did.”
Brown is being modest. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes laid out the difficulty in adjusting to Worthy’s loss and turning to Brown, who — to that point in Week 1 against the L.A. Chargers — was not a major piece of the Chiefs’ game plan.
“There are limited reps,” Mahomes said. “When you have an injury you have guys going in different (positions) that they haven’t gotten those reps in before. But I thought the guys did well as the game went on, adjusting to that.”
Worthy was to be the Chiefs’ featured wide receiver against the Chargers — and could have been in Sunday’s encounter against the Philadelphia Eagles. But likely he’s out for this week and probably few more, coach Andy Reid said on Wednesday, although he added that Worthy’s injury won’t require surgery.
Brown stepped into the leading-target role and figures to be a primary weapon in the passing game in the absence of Rice and Worthy. That’s what happened when the Chiefs’ offense got going against the Chargers.
In the 27-21 loss to L.A., Brown finished with 10 receptions for 99 yards. He was part of the game’s longest play, too, a 49-yard reception on fourth down in the fourth quarter.
The catches and 16 targets were the second most for a game in Brown’s seven-year NFL career. It was easily his best outing with the Chiefs. He joined KC last year but missed all but two regular-season games and three playoff games after suffering a collarbone injury in the preseason opener.
This year, Brown missed a chunk of training camp with an ankle injury, and all of this has limited the amount of time he’s had to work with Mahomes. It took a few possessions for Mahomes and Brown to get on the same page last week.
“I think you saw in the game, Hollywood got more and more comfortable,” Mahomes said. “He had to run his routes, Xavier’s routes and kind of all the in-between. I thought he did a good job of recognizing what he needed to do, recognizing coverages and making plays happen.”
And now Brown is poised to become the player the Chiefs landed in free agency last season. In his first two years in the NFL, Brown caught 15 touchdown passes. In his third, he set career bests with 91 receptions and 1,008 yards, all with the Baltimore Ravens.
Two more seasons with the Arizona Cardinals produced nearly 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Chiefs still have other receivers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Nikko Remigio and Jason Brownlee. But Brown becomes their biggest threat now. That’s especially true because talented rookie Jalen Royals is unlikely to play this week, Reid said.
“He’ll be big these next couple of weeks,” Mahomes said of Brown. “It’s something I think he’s ready for.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM.