Marquise Brown enters his fifth season (second with the Arizona Cardinals) as the unquestioned top option in the passing game now that DeAndre Hopkins is a Titan. After an underwhelming 2022 that saw him score just three times and average a career-low 10.6 yards per catch, will Brown be a fantasy football difference-maker or a tease poised to underachieve?
Marquise Brown’s Fantasy Outlook for the 2023 NFL Season
Talk about a complicated situation. We have an unknown quarterback situation in Arizona, a receiver assuming a new role, and limited offensive potential. Let’s take a look at everything and see where things stand.
Starting under center, Kyler Murray’s timeline remains cloudy at best. He tore his ACL in December and relies heavily on his mobility, making it reasonable to think that the cautious approach is the most likely. Behind him is Colt McCoy, Clayton Tune, and David Blough. That sounds like fun!
McCoy is the presumed favorite to pick up starter duties in the short term. He entered the NFL the same night Tim Tebow did (yeah, he’s been around for a while), and yet, the next time he supports a pass catcher who produces 90 receiving yards and a touchdown in a game will be the first. He’s never done it.
Hollywood was close to a career best in catches per game last season, thanks in large part to a season-opening heater that came during the Hopkins suspension. With Hopkins now in Tennessee, that lead role is Brown’s for the entire season and that’s encouraging.
NEW Cardinals WR Marquise Brown’s #ReceptionPerception profile is up on the site.
– 82.1% success rate vs zone coverage (81st percentile, 11th best in 2022)
– He’s cleared 80% in all four pro seasonsBrown needs the right role to shine but he’s a pretty underrated player.… pic.twitter.com/IyjU4UotGv
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB)
Of course, the value of those targets is a major question mark. His yards per catch have dipped in consecutive seasons and he’s scored just nine times over the past two seasons after opening his career with 15 touchdowns in two seasons.
His competition for targets is … underwhelming. Rondale Moore’s short volume role doesn’t take much off the plate of Brown and the same applies for Greg Dortch. Michael Wilson is a WR to keep on your dynasty radars (6’2” rookie out of Stanford), but I’m not projecting him to be involved enough early on to lower my ranking of Brown.
Is Brown a Good Fantasy Pick?
He might be, but it won’t benefit me at all. I’ve yet to land a share of him and I don’t see that changing. There are just too many question marks to take him over high-upside receivers in this range (Mike Evans, George Pickens, and Jordan Addison to name a few).
MORE: Fantasy Football Draft Strategy
At best, Hollywood offers sporadic production on this putrid offense and that’s just not the type of profile I’m investing a pick where I expect him to start more often than not.
- PFN Consensus Rankings: 81st overall
- Current ADP: 76th overall
