Cardinals’ Marquise Brown reunion with Kyler Murray a long time coming

TEMPE — For most, there was always that recurring dream of working with your best friend at some point or another.

Wide receiver Marquise Brown and quarterback Kyler Murray get to make that vision a reality following Arizona’s NFL Draft-day trade with the Baltimore Ravens that included the burner on Thursday night.

It’s a pinch yourself-type moment for the pair, who have now gone from B squad work at Oklahoma to carving out respectable careers on their own to now rejoining forces with sights set on a Super Bowl. There was no place Brown wanted to be more than in the Valley, back with his college QB.

“In college you go through more with your quarterback than in the NFL,” Brown said. “Me and Kyler got in together. Neither one of us started so we worked together … beating the starting defense at Oklahoma to all the way to both of us playing. We been doing it together the whole time we were there so I’m excited.”

“In college you go through more with your quarterback than in the NFL. Me and Kyler got in together. Neither one of us started so we worked together on the B squad beating the starting defense at Oklahoma to all the way to both of us playing,” Marquise Brown on the K1 connection. pic.twitter.com/sfMt91bbBw

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) April 29, 2022

“We killed, we killed every day,” Brown added about the pair’s college days backing up the first-team offense. “We used to talk trash to Baker (Mayfield), to all them. ‘If we were to play against y’all we would win.’ We used to go at it and we made our point every day was to kill it. Kill it every day.”

For Brown, the trade didn’t really seem like a possibility until about a week ago. It seemed like only a pipe dream during their time working out together this offseason — though Brown had a hunch — that they could don the same uniform once again.

Now, the two reunite in an offense tailored around Murray and spreading the ball around to his pass catchers.

Murray isn’t the only player on the roster Brown is familiar with, though, having played against current Cardinal James Conner during his Pittsburgh Steeler days. Guys like fellow wideouts DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green don’t need introductions.

On top of gleaning everything he can from Hopkins and Green, Brown is ecstatic to have a legit No. 1 option on the opposite side.

“He’s DeAndre Hopkins, he’s going to command that attention,” Brown said. “I’ve been in an offense where I’ve been getting all the attention, I’ve been getting the cloud coverages so I’m excited to get some 1-on-1 matchups and spread the field out.”

Excluding tight end Mark Andrews, Brown was head and shoulders the best pass catcher on the Ravens’ roster the past few seasons.

In 2021, he outpaced the next highest pass catcher (Rashod Bateman) 1,008 yards to 515. He also reeled in six touchdowns, four more than the next-closest wide receiver in Devin Duvernay (two).

Given Hopkins’ presence and the fact that head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s offense hits another gear when getting the ball to multiple bodies, Brown expects to feast in ways he couldn’t in Baltimore.

And above all else, he gets to take the field once again with the QB he came up through the college ranks with.

“He evolved a lot and he still does the same things but he’s all been doing a good job of just doing what he has to do to win,” Brown said.

“No game is always the same with him. He can win it running it, he can win it passing it, improvising and he does a good job of protecting himself so that’s what I admire about him.”

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