To this day, former University of Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver Nick Basquine still argue over who wooed Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
It was December 2016 and OU, in the midst of a heated Big 12 championship race against rival Oklahoma State, was in an equally heated recruiting battle against West Virginia for Brown, a 5-foot-9 junior college wideout who moonlighted as a Six Flags ride operator in California to make ends meet.
Brown just so happened to have a 40 time in the low 4.3s, too.
Murray gave his pitch. Ditto for Basquine. And while Murray still doesn’t believe this story, when Brown did finally commit to the Sooners, wide receiver coach Dennis Simmons gave Basquine the nod for sealing the deal.
“I remember we had a practice on a Monday and coach Simmons came up to me and was like, ‘Dude, thank you,’” Basquine said. “I’m like, what are you talking about? He’s like, ‘You got us Marquise.’
“And, well, the rest is history. You saw what he did here. You see what he can do in the NFL, too.”
Now 29, Brown will try to have a career resurgence with the Eagles, who signed him to a one-year, $6.5 million contract this offseason.
Brown has bounced around the league since dominating in college and getting off to a strong start to his NFL career. The No. 25 overall pick by Baltimore in the 2019 draft, he still ranks No. 4 in Ravens history for total touchdowns by a wide receiver (21). The former first-round pick peaked in 2021 when he had a 1,008-yard season, but he mostly fizzled out after that.
He was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in April 2022, playing two seasons with Murray but failing to recapture his former 1,000-yard magic. Brown moved on to Kansas City but was injured for most of the 2023 season — he did catch two passes for 15 yards in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss to the Eagles — and had 49 catches as a part-time starter with Kansas City in 2025.
Is there any reason to believe that Brown — who had 587 yards last season — can recapture his Baltimore success in Philadelphia?
Candidly, Basquine doesn’t know if the numbers will reflect that resurgence. But that doesn’t mean Brown can’t impact opposing defenses, especially playing in a modern offense led by Jalen Hurts, Basquine’s quarterback during his senior year at OU.
“The threat that Marquise poses, it’s going to impact the defense,” Basquine said. “Whether they play two-high shell or one high, Marquise’s presence, even though he’s not going to be the first guy people think of, people who know football and understand the threat of speed, you always have to account for it. Marquise is still blazing fast.
“The stats probably won’t show up, but the stress and the game plan the defense has to do because of that is going to be valuable in itself.”
General manager Howie Roseman thought the same thing when he signed Brown in March. It’s obvious why Roseman brought in names like Brown, Dontayvion Wicks, and Elijah Moore, and drafted Makai Lemon this offseason: He wanted to bolster his wide receiver depth in an attempt to recreate A.J. Brown’s production in the aggregate.
Barring a 2021-like revival, it’s unlikely that Marquise Brown will get many starts this season. There’s a good chance he’ll fill depth wide receiver Jahan Dotson’s spot since Dotson signed a two-year deal with the Falcons this offseason.
This could be an ideal scenario for Brown, whom Basquine said is more determined to win a ring “than anybody.” As Roseman pointed out after he signed Brown, depth receivers have been critical pieces to Philadelphia’s Super Bowl rosters.
“On Hollywood, there have been times on our offense we’ve had really that vertical skill set, but also a guy can separate at the top of his routes,” Roseman said. “And we had that a little — I was looking at our teams in 2017 — I thought Nelson [Agholor] did a great job of that, bringing that to the team. I think you looked at 2022 and Quez [Watkins] did a good job of that. I think 2024 was constructed a little bit differently, but I think that really fits the skill set of our quarterback.”
If Brown does somehow carve out a starting role due to injury, Basquine, who played with both Brown and Hurts, said they can form an “underrated duo” due to their skill sets.
With the Eagles now running a Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan-esque offense under offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, Simmons took the prediction a step further.
“I actually think his best football is in front of him,” said Simmons, now the wide receivers coach at USC. “We can see the best of Hollywood in Philly.
“He’s been in a variety of offenses … so the playbook will not be an issue for him. I know what his work ethic is like. I know he’s healthy. Philly’s gonna love him.”
