Brett Veach says Hollywood Brown is ‘trending in the right direction’

Going into the offseason, most observers would have identified the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver group as one of the NFL's worst.

But after the acquisition of free agent wide receiver Hollywood Brown (and the team's decision to use its first-round draft pick on speedy Texas wideout Xavier Worthy), it was starting to look like general manager Brett Veach had put together yet another single-season turnaround of a position group.

The excitement from those moves was muted on the first offensive play of the preseason campaign — when Brown suffered a sternoclavicular injury similar to the one that kept Tyreek Hill off the field for four games at the beginning of the 2019 season. Later reports indicated that Brown could be out for as many as six weeks, which could cause him to miss the first two or three games of the season.

So Brown's injury timeline was a topic of conversation on Thursday when Veach met with local reporters on a Zoom call.

"I don't like talking about medical [things]," he cautioned his listeners, "because if I say something and [a player is] ahead of that timeline — or behind that timeline — then I don't want to put any more pressure on the kid."

With that caveat out of the way, Veach gave a fairly positive report on Brown's progress.

"I could probably confidently say it was similar to Tyreek; it falls in line with the timeline that [he] went through. But I know [Hollywood's] here every day — and he's to the point now where he can laugh without pain; that's a good thing. So he's certainly trending in the right direction — and there was a reason why we didn't put him on the IR [to begin the] season."

That decision made it clear the team is confident Brown will need to miss fewer than the four games he'd have to sit out if he were placed on the Reserve/Injured list.

But Veach had another trick up his sleeve: signing former Kansas City wide receiver JuJu Smith-Shuster, who had become a free agent when the New England Patriots cut him loose on August 9.

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"Once we got out of the Jacksonville game — [when] Hollywood got hurt — [we] had some conversations with JuJu's agent," recalled the GM. "And as we were going through our roster, some of the other guys — [Nikko] Remigio had a good camp, Justyn Ross had a good camp [and] Montrell Washington had a good camp — but [on] some of the things, you know how Coach works with just light components."

In Veach's mind, the team needed a bigger wideout — and Smith-Schuster was a known quantity who could step in right away alongside tight end Travis Kelce.

"There's some of this intermediate stuff that he does well with Travis that we thought JuJu did better than the other players," explained Veach. "And he's a bigger player than some of those smaller guys. And then with some of the intermediate route running, I think he had maybe a little bit better feel."

Veach knew that he could get some of that production from Ross — another bigger wideout who had made noteworthy plays on the sideline during training camp — but believed the former Clemson wideout wasn't yet ready to play the role as well as Smith-Schuster could.

"We all know Justyn can make plays outside the numbers — and use the size. I think as he continues to develop, that will be something that he'll need to work on — and I think we feel confident he will.

"But I just think that JuJu's experience in this offense — and that feel for that position — gives us the ability to kind of sub these guys out, give him blows and hopefully still match that kind of production."

So after clearing waivers, Ross was back on the Kansas City practice squad — where he spent all of the 2023 season after missing his rookie season with an injury. But he still has a better chance to play for Kansas City in 2024 than fellow wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who was released on Tuesday.

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"We're certainly disappointed," said Veach of Toney, whom the team acquired by giving a third and sixth-round pick to the New York Giants at 2022's trade deadline. "I think he's disappointed. We really like the kid. I know that people could have different takes on Kadarius. But I know in this building, [we see him as] a bright kid; he's a smart kid."

And while it won't be with the Chiefs, Veach believes Toney still has an NFL future.

"I do think he'll figure it out," noted Veach, "and I think he'll end up making plays for a team down the road. But as far as our interaction — and working with the kid — he was actually a lot of fun to be around. [I] just hope for the kid that he can get a little good luck on his side — and stay healthy."

And while Toney has generated a lot of controversy in Kansas City — way more than his on-field production could have excused — Veach has no regrets.

"I don't think we're sitting here — going for a third straight Super Bowl — had we not made that trade," he declared. "So from that standpoint, [I'd] do it all over again in a heartbeat."