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Chiefs WR Marquise Brown has to undergo surgery and will be out for “months”

  • Adam Teicher, editor at ESPNSeptember 13, 2024, 11:46 a.m. ET

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    • Played for Kansas City Star as a Chiefs player for 20 seasons
    • At ESPN since 2013

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Chiefs wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown will undergo surgery for a sternoclavicular joint injury. Coach Andy Reid said Brown could miss the rest of the season.

“It won't be weeks,” Reid said Friday of the timeline for Brown's return. “More like months.”

“Everyone is a little different, and that [injury]a lot of them we don't have information on, so we'll just have to wait and see how long it takes. We'll see where that takes us in that process. But that's the information we have and we just have to hold onto it.”

Rick Burkholder, the Chiefs' vice president of sports medicine and performance, said Brown will undergo surgery on Monday in Vail, Colorado, for the injury, which affects one of the shoulder joints. The Chiefs have placed Brown on the injured list, guaranteeing he will miss at least the next four games.

“Disappointment, frustration and sadness were the initial waves of emotions when I realized I needed surgery, but it only lasted about a day because I believe in God,” Brown wrote on X. “I knew that no matter what amazing opportunity came my way, this too would pass. It's not over yet and this is not the path God intended for me and I am completely at peace with that now.”

Brown was injured after catching a pass on the first play of the Chiefs' first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 10. He did not play in the Chiefs' season-opening win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5, but it seemed like he might return in time for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium.

“He's done great in rehab,” Burkholder said. “He wasn't in any pain. We talked about options to get back to playing, but we had to do one final exam with another picture … four weeks after the injury, three weeks after the last MRI, and it looked like the bone had moved. So we consulted with three or four doctors in the country and then sent him to a specialist in Vail, and everyone involved felt it was a little too risky for him to continue playing without the surgery.”

The Chiefs still have six wide receivers on their active roster. Rashee Rice was the Chiefs' best wide receiver against the Ravens with seven catches for 103 yards. Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy scored two touchdowns, one of them on an end-around.

Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore are the Chiefs' other wide receivers. Reid stated that the Chiefs do not see a need for another receiver.

“I think we have some good guys at that spot,” he said. “We have some depth there and we feel good about it.”

Brown, 27, was the Chiefs' most important free agent of the offseason. Before joining the Chiefs, he had played five NFL seasons: three with the Ravens and two with the Arizona Cardinals. His best season came in 2021 with Baltimore, when he caught 91 passes for 1,008 yards. Last season with the Cardinals, he caught 51 passes for 574 yards.

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