Report: Chiefs 'Plan to' Activate Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown for Week 16 vs. Texans

With Saturday's game against the Texans approaching, the Chiefs reportedly plan to activate one of their key free agent signings to the roster.

Jul 26, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown (5) runs drills during training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

With the Kansas City Chiefs closing in on their Week 16 home outing against the Houston Texans, it's growing more and more likely that the reigning Super Bowl champs will get a key piece back in the fold.

According to a Thursday morning report from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Chiefs will soon move to activate wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown from the injured reserve list. This sets Brown up to potentially make his regular-season debut on Saturday afternoon.

"The #Chiefs plan to activate Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown (reserve/injured, shoulder) for Saturday’s game vs. Houston assuming everything continues trending positively this week, per sources," Fowler wrote. "Brown looks to make his Chiefs debut after missing four months."

It's been a long time coming for Brown, who suffered a sternoclavicular injury in the club's first preseason game of the year. After attempting to recover for a return early in the regular season, the prized free agent pickup didn't heal properly and underwent surgery that gave him a much longer timeline. Brown was medically cleared to practice last week, making his presence felt in a limited capacity on Friday and drawing praise from head coach Andy Reid.

Those positive progress reports from Reid continued with Brown practicing restriction-free this week.

"Listen, he felt good," Reid said. "He felt good [and] moved around well, took quite a few reps. It wasn't a leg injury, so he's been working his legs. He's one of those really good endurance guys anyways, but he's been working his legs throughout here. It's just a matter of this whole thing (points to chest) and how he feels when he's going. But the doctors have really said it's healed up nice and looks good, so we'll just see. I'm going to do just like you are – I'm going to play it by ear and see how we do here. If he can go, he'll play and if he can't, then he won't."

Last weekend, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Brown had a "very real" chance to play in Week 16's contest against Houston. As the two AFC playoff clubs prepare to meet on Saturday, that's tracking to be the case.

The rich will soon get richer, as 13-1 Kansas City gains a former first-round pick who was flashing serious chemistry with quarterback Patrick Mahomes all spring and summer before getting hurt. Now, Brown gets a chance to make an impact down the stretch as the franchise pursues an elusive three-peat of championships.

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