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While Howie Roseman was hard at work on a deal that would shake the NFL to its core, the Arizona Cardinals had just made a similar blockbuster deal official in their own war room across the country: trading for Marquise Brown and the 100th overall pick from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for Arizona's 23rd overall pick.
This apparently was not a spur-of-the-moment deal, as Ravens' GM Eric DeCosta stated that Brown had asked for the trade at the end of the 2021 season and he had "agonized over it for quite some time." Brown was good friends with Lamar Jackson and had just completed his first 1,000-yard season in his career, which made the trade that much more surprising.
Less than a week later, more reasons why the trade may have been made were understood, when star DeAndre Hopkins was suspended for six weeks for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy on PEDs. This of course seems to throw a lot of things into whack in Arizona, but it is possible that the Cardinals already knew this was coming and expedited this trade to try and get ahead of it.
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Marquise Brown's NFL Resume
Brown is a very good receiver, and has gotten better every single year he has been in the NFL since being drafted with the 25th pick of the first round in the 2019 NFL Draft. While at Oklahoma, he had two breakout 1,000+ yard seasons, including his final season with Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, who had a stellar season of his own that year leading him to win the Heisman Trophy as well as become the number overall draft pick the following spring.
Over the past two seasons though, Brown had become disillusioned with the style of offense that the Ravens ran. Brown thought his downfield abilities and breakaway speed would be better served in an offense that spread his wings a little more, since Baltimore's offense has historically been ran with a heavy emphasis on establishing the run. So Brown asked DeCosta for a trade.
What Happens Next for Marquise Brown?
Now, Brown lands in Arizona. He could not have picked a better landing spot for himself, as it was said that he and Murray have "been talking about this for years." In picking the Cardinals, he will most likely receive a contract extension that should line up with Murray's expected extension at some point this season, so the stage is set for the two to grow their careers together.
They are clearly already comfortable together, but Brown is not the WR1 here currently, Hopkins is. Right off the bat though, with Hopkins' suspension announced and the appeal dropped, Brown will have to take over those WR1 duties. He was technically the WR1 in Baltimore, but it always felt like that passing offense ran through Mark Andrews, so it will be interesting to see how Brown adjusts to being the alpha dog for the first half of the season.
Marquise Brown Fantasy Football Impact
The question is, what does the chemistry between Murray and Brown look like now with three years of separation since they last played together? Looking into the data from PlayerProfiler, they should be able to hook right back up from where they left off.
Murray was the best quarterback in the NFL in 2021 on Deep Ball Completion Percentage, posting a 50% success rate on 72 qualifying throws and posting the third-best Deep Ball Accuracy Rating at 6.9. This is where Brown has historically succeeded as well, given that he posted a 63.6% success rate on the Nine route as well as higher than 75% on both Corner and Post routes, according to Matt Harmon's Reception Perception, as seen below.
Furthermore, Brown finally gives Murray a true separator that he really has not had in his first few professional seasons. Christian Kirk is a less explosive version of the player that Brown is now, so if Murray gets into trouble, he can dump the ball off to Brown in the flat and trust that he will get the necessary yards to extend the drive.
Given all of this, it would appear to be a foregone conclusion that this partnership will be a good thing for Brown and Murray. The absence of Hopkins might complicate the beginning a little bit as teams really key in on Brown, but he has all the talent to make the situation work, and the offense will be explosive enough to where he should be able to put up reliably high WR2 numbers for you in your fantasy football leagues.
According to early ADP, Brown currently has a ranking of WR30. It is a good bet that he easily outpaces this and puts up numbers more along the lines of WR14-18. He is a solid buy right now and will only get higher as the season draws nearer, so happy hunting!
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