OWINGS MILLS — Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown, a former first-round pick who spent his first three seasons with the Ravens, might not play when Kansas City hosts Baltimore in the NFL’s regular-season opener on September 5th.
Brown suffered a shoulder injury in the preseason game against the Jaguars, but he will not need surgery, according to Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
“Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how that goes,” Reid told reporters when asked about Brown’s availability.”We’ve also got some other guys who can step in and play. We’ll be OK there, but we’re pulling for him to get back, obviously.”
The Ravens selected Brown with the 25th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. He had 195 catches for 2,361 yards and 21 touchdowns in his three seasons in Baltimore.
In his final year with the Ravens, Brown led the team with 91 receptions for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns. Brown and tight end Mark Andrews became just the second Ravens duo to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark in the same season, joining Michael Jackson and Derrick Alexander, who accomplished that feat in 1996.
However, Brown was not happy with his role in the offense and asked to be traded. Baltimore sent him and the 100th overall pick — a third-round, compensatory selection — in the 2022 NFL draft to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for the 23rd overall pick, which they used for center Tyler Linderbaum, who made the Pro Bowl last season.
Brown was in the final year of his rookie contract. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta had said the team would pick up his fifth-year option in 2023 worth $13.4 million, but the situation changed.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson and Brown were close friends. The Ravens told Jackson about the pending deal.
“Actually, Coach [Harbaugh] called me,” Jackson said at the time. “It was after a workout, and I was like, ‘OK,’ [and] I’m just listening to him. But he was like, ‘We’re thinking about trading him’ and stuff like that, but I didn’t buy into it. It was just conversation, and when it actually happened, I was like, ‘What the …’ But it’s all good. It’s part of the business.
“I was kind of hurt, because that’s my boy. But it’s all good. Like I said, it’s part of the business.”
Brown played against the Ravens last season for Arizona in Week 8. He had six catches for 33 yards with a touchdown in Baltimore’s 31-24 victory.