Getty
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
We might be about to get a true test of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson‘s new powers of influence under 1st year head coach Jesse Minter.
Just days after Jackson teased online about a possible reunion with 2019 1st round pick and Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, the man himself added some fuel to the fire by posting a short video of himself playing for the Ravens on his official Instagram account.
“Free agent WR Marquise Brown teasing a potential return to the Ravens on his Instagram story,” JPA Football wrote on its official X account on Monday. “A few days earlier, Lamar Jackson made a joke about him coming back to Baltimore.”
Brown was the No. 25 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft and had the best years of his career catching passes from Jackson, including career highs of 91 receptions for 1,008 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2021.
Ravens Probably Don’t Need More Undersized WRs
The Ravens might want to think twice about bringing Brown back for several reasons, with the main one being they already have an undersized wide receiver in star Zay Flowers, who is 5-foot-9 and 183 pounds.
They probably don’t need a clone of Flowers in Brown, 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds — essentially an older, slower, less productive version of Flowers.
The Ravens capitalized on Brown’s 1,000-yard season in a big way when they traded a 3rd round pick and Brown to the Arizona Cardinals on Day 1 of the 2022 NFL draft in exchange for Arizona’s 1st round pick – a pick the Ravens eventually turned into 3-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum.
It’s also probably important to remember why Brown left Baltimore in the 1st place. He got his walking papers because he wouldn’t stop complaining about the offense.
“I asked them for a trade after the season,” Brown said following the trade. “It was just my happiness.”
“Marquise was my first pick, and one of my favorite guys on the team,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said. “But Marquise came to me after the season and requested that he be traded and was not happy and wanted to play elsewhere.
Brown Has Been Average at Last 2 Stops
One benefit for the Ravens in bringing back Brown might be that they could get him for basically nothing. Spotrac projects he’s in line to receive a 1-year, $5.5 million contract on the open market, which seems like it would be a gross overpay.
Think something more along the lines of a 1-year, $3 million offer and see where it goes from there.
Brown has done little since he left the Ravens to live up to the promise that made him part of the 2022 trade to the Cardinals. In 2 seasons with Arizona, Brown missed 8 games due to injuries and saw his numbers dip to 67 receptions for 704 yards in 2022 and 51 receptions for 574 yards in 2023.
Brown played for the Chiefs on a 1-year, $7 million contract in 2024 and missed 15 regular-season games due to injuries before returning for the playoffs and to play in a Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
He had a bounce back season in 2025 with 49 receptions for 587 yards and 5 touchdowns as he played in 16 regular-season games — his highest total since 2021.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
More Heavy on Ravens
Loading more stories