Cardinals’ Hollywood Brown could see snap count if he plays vs. Chargers

TEMPE — Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Hollywood Brown is on the cusp of making his return from the injured reserve.

After getting in a week of practice in Week 11, Brown continues to make progress following a foot injury that has kept him out five games.

“He’s day-to-day,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Wednesday. “He was out there for the walkthrough. I’m hoping we can get something out of him, maybe limited, but hopefully we can get him back out there.”

Even on a pitch count, something Kingsbury said could be the case for Brown if he is activated off the injured reserve/designated to return list, his presence in the offense could go a long way.

Despite playing in six of the 11 games so far this season, Brown is second on the team in receiving yards (485) and touchdowns (three). He’s third in receptions (43).

Only DeAndre Hopkins sits ahead of Brown in receiving yards (487) and catches (45).

And if Brown does in fact suit up against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, it’ll mark the first time the team’s No. 1 and 2 options take the field together as teammates.

All it took was 12 weeks to get there.

“Just to see both of them on the field, the relationships I have with them and building their relationship, they’re a pair,” quarterback Kyler Murray said Wednesday. “You’ve got two guys out there that can do everything pretty much and are hard to stop, so I’m excited to see it.”

But while one Cardinals receiver appears on the up and up, the same can’t be said for Rondale Moore, who suffered a groin injury on the first play of the team’s Monday Night Football loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He did not return to action after logging just two offensive snaps.

“It does not look like he’ll be available this week,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll see how he trends, but I think it’ll at least be a week.”

The Chargers game marks the fourth game Moore has had to miss in 2022 due to injury. He was sidelined for the first three games of the season with hamstring issues.

Since entering the league last year, Moore has missed at least three games in each of the past two seasons.

Moore wasn’t the only Cardinal to walk out of Mexico City with an ailment, either, with WR Greg Dortch sustaining a thumb injury on his way to a career-best 103 receiving yards on nine catches.

He appears to have dodged surgery, though, following an MRI and remains day-to-day.

When his number has been called this season, largely in place of Moore, Dortch has provided a spark to the offense more times than not.

In the four games Dortch has seen an expanded role with Moore sidelined, the wideout recorded 301 yards and a touchdown on 29 catches.

“I think he’s a dynamic playmaker that anytime he gets the opportunities he’s going to make plays,” Kingsbury said. “It’s just the finer points that he’s got to continue to work on in our offense and gain the trust of those quarterbacks snap in and snap out.”

Dortch or not, Kingsbury is also expecting more out of a trio of pass catchers in Robbie Anderson, A.J. Green and rookie Trey McBride.

Anderson continues to be nonexistent in the offense five weeks into his Cardinals tenure following a midseason trade with the Carolina Panthers.

Green has had his moments here and there over the past two weeks, notching his first touchdown of the season in the win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10, but has yet to surpass 50 receiving yards through nine games played.

As for McBride, he has a tall task in front of him with Zach Ertz done for the season with a knee injury suffered against the Rams.

“Both (Anderson and Green) will have increased roles, there’s no doubt,” Kingsbury said Wednesday. “We’ll see on Hollywood, and then Hop will do what he does. Then Trey McBride’s got to continue to come on and make some plays for us.”

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