Marquise “Hollywood” Brown arrived in Philadelphia this offseason on a one-year, $6.5 million deal, expecting to be a real factor in the passing game. Instead, he didn’t play a single offensive snap in Week 1, and according to Victor Williams, that absence during the Eagles’ 24-22 win over Washington hasn’t sat well with him.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“Eagles WR Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown is ‘unhappy’ with his current role in the offense, per Victor Williams. Brown, who signed a 1-year/$6.5M deal with the Eagles in free agency, expected to have a key role in Philadelphia’s passing attack, but did not play at all in Week 1,” Football Forever posted on X.
Brown didn’t hold back when reporters asked him about it, revealing there was zero heads-up from the coaching staff about how his snaps would be handled going into the opener.
“No conversations [about his workload] leading up to it, but, I don’t know, I just come to work and when my opportunity comes, be ready for it,” Brown said.
Instead, DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks got the starting nod, with rookie first-rounder Makai Lemon and Darius Cooper also logging offensive snaps. Brown’s zero-snap outing immediately drew scrutiny at Monday’s press conference, where Sirianni fielded questions about his role.
“So, with yesterday, you know, we have our rotations that we’re doing, you know, Hollywood could obviously help us,” Sirianni explained. “We obviously want to get him into the football game because his speed is real. It just didn’t work out that way yesterday. There are games like that. There are games where you get shut out on catches. Unfortunately, there are games they get shut out on reps.”
To his credit, Sirianni didn’t dodge the issue, acknowledging that Brown deserves more regular action even though things simply didn’t break his way against the Commanders.
“But we know that Hollywood can help us win football games, and his speed is real, and, quite frankly, just from my end, we want to get him into the football game, right? And so, you know, we’ll make a better effort to do that next time, ’cause I know the playmaking ability that he can bring with his speed.”
Sirianni’s explanation didn’t seem to make Brown feel any better about it.
“Nah, no, it don’t. But I’m not dwelling on it. I’m ready for next week,” Brown said.
Looking at his career path, Baltimore drafted Brown 25th overall in 2019, and his best year came in 2021 with 91 catches, 1,008 yards, and six touchdowns. Arizona traded for him in April 2022, and he spent two seasons there before heading to Kansas City for another two years, though injuries slowed him down while he was with the Chiefs.
His preseason in Philly was a bit of a mixed bag, but Brown appears comfortable in Mannion’s scheme.
On the health front, Brown fully participated in Friday’s practice and isn’t listed on the injury report heading into Week 2.
Now it’s just a matter of seeing whether the coaching staff follows through and actually gets him more involved in the offense this time around.
Nick Sirianni gives honest take on Sean Mannion’s Offensive Coordinator debut
The Eagles brought in Sean Mannion as offensive coordinator to add some spark to the offense. After Sunday’s 24-22 win over Washington, it looks like it’s already working.
Jalen Hurts had three completions of 30 or more yards, and the team had a pair of runs for more than 20 yards. That helped Sirianni and Hurts stay perfect at 6-0 in season openers.
“I thought we were able to be explosive,” Sirianni said afterward, and it’s hard to argue with the tape.
Hurts finished with 203 yards through the air and three touchdown passes in Mannion’s first game calling plays. Naturally, all eyes were on how the new playcaller would handle his debut, and Sirianni sounded genuinely pleased with what he saw.
“I thought he did a good job of getting the play in. The operation’s the first thing you always look at,” Sirianni explained. “I thought we were pretty balanced in our situations the way we kind of break it down. I thought we were able to be explosive.”
That said, once you get past the highlight-reel plays, things got a little sluggish. Barkley managed just 41 yards on his remaining 14 carries, Smith added only 22 yards on his other two grabs, and Hurts completed a modest 56 percent (14 of 25) of his throws while dealing with constant pressure and three sacks.
Whether this offense can find more consistency going forward is still an open question.