Friday brought a bunch of unpleasant news for the Kansas City Chiefs and wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. According to multiple reports, Brown will be placed on the injured list and will need to undergo surgery to repair a sternoclavicular joint dislocation suffered in the first week of the preseason.

While the minimum injury reserve is four weeks, Brown is expected to be out much longer than the next few weeks. James Palmer reported that “there is currently no timetable for a return. According to sources, there is real concern that Brown could miss the season.”

After practice on Friday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke about Brown’s setback.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Hollywood,” Reid said. “He’s a great kid and nobody wanted this more than he did, so our thoughts are with him, but he’s going to recover and be ready to get back here whenever that time comes. We don’t know exactly how long that’s going to take, but it’s going to take a long time to get there.”

Reid was then asked if he thinks Brown will return this season.

“We’ll just have to get through it and see how long it takes,” Reid said. “It’s not going to be weeks. More like months, so we’ll see where that takes us in that process. But that’s the information we have, but we just have to stick with it.”

Shortly before Reid spoke to the media, Brown expressed his frustration and disappointment on Twitter/X:

Disappointment, frustration and sadness were the first feelings I felt when I realized I needed surgery, but that only lasted about a day because of my faith in God. I knew that no matter what great opportunity came my way, this too would pass. It is not over and this is not the path God intended for me and I am completely at peace with that now.
I feel it is my duty to let everyone out there know that whether things are going well or not as you wish, never waver from your faith and rely on God in every situation. So let’s enjoy some great football!!
Let’s go Chiefs!! See you soon

While the Chiefs offense looked good in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens with Rashee Rice, the team now faces several complicating factors in the wide receiver rotation.

While Rice played 78% of the offensive snaps against Baltimore and Xavier Worthy played 63%, Justin Watson — a useful player but not the same kind of weapon — played 52%. The workload drop came after Watson, as JuJu Smith-Schuster (22%), Skyy Moore (19%) and Mecole Hardman (0%) had significantly fewer opportunities.

Ultimately, a Kelce/Rice/Worthy trio in an offense with Travis Kelce (and Noah Gray) is still a group of high-potential pass receivers, but the margin for error has now virtually disappeared.

The Chiefs seem incredibly fortunate that Rice was not suspended before the 2024 season, and Worthy, who has played just one game in his NFL career, must now continue to climb the ranks and embrace his accelerated learning curve. The Brown/Rice/Worthy trio had a chance to become one of the best in the league. Now, any injury or limitation to the 175-pound rookie would cause the wide receiver group to plummet toward the much-maligned 2023 roster.

I’m not predicting any breakdowns for Worthy, nor do I believe his slight frame is doomed at the NFL level. But in a sport where injuries are a fact of life, any rookie loss would mean the Chiefs revert to the 23-man roster of Rice, Watson, Hardman and Moore, with Smith-Schuster essentially trading spots with Marquez Valdes-Scantling. (Any difficulty with Rice’s availability could be even more detrimental.) Perhaps Justyn Ross will be reinstated to the active roster after being elevated to the practice squad following this year’s roster reduction.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, none of that patchwork of players is anywhere near as dynamic as Brown, and the group may not survive another problem at wide receiver until Brown – hopefully – returns to the field.

Read more: Chiefs WR Marquise “Hollywood” Brown is placed on the injured list, longer absence likely