With the free agent wide receiver group having been diminished by Mike Evans re-signing with Tampa Bay at $20.5 million per year, and Tee Higgins and Michael Pittman Jr. being franchise tagged by Cincinnati and Indianapolis, respectively ($21.8 million tender), there is a school of thought that Arizona Cardinals pass-catcher Hollywood Brown will get a boatload of money when the free agent negotiating period begins Monday at 9 a.m. Arizona time.
It could happen, although it shouldn’t. That’s no knock on the speedy 5-foot-9 Brown. It would simply be an extreme leap of faith for any team to empty their cash bucket on a player who has missed eight games over the last two seasons and averaged 10.9 yards per catch on 118 catches for 1,283 yards and scored only seven touchdowns.
Yes, Brown played only 12 of his 26 Cardinals games with Kyler Murray at quarterback and a few were late in the 2023 season when he tried to grind through a foot injury. However, it wouldn’t be prudent for any team, much less the Cardinals, to agree with Spotrac and lavish $15 million a year on Brown although average per year isn’t as important as guaranteed money.
Of course, we also know that former Cardinals wideout Christian Kirk signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Jaguars two years ago that included $37 million fully guaranteed.
The first 10 days of the league year are highlighted by teams overpaying to get their guy(s) and much of it ends up being money wasted.
If that doesn’t happen, is there a path for Brown to re-sign with the Cardinals. There is, if he’s willing to sign a 1-year, prove-it contract worth around the $13.4 million he made last season and that includes an incentive package to make more. Do that, stay healthy and produce, and Brown would be in line for a big payday in 2025 when he will be 28 years old.
Asked at the combine if he hopes to have Brown back and if he has talked to Murray about it, head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “Yeah, I talk to Kyler about everything. Yeah, absolutely. But again, there’s an economic piece to that. That’ll sort out as we get going here.”
It will likely sort itself out relatively quickly.
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