Arizona receiver Marquise Brown will see a host of familiar faces when his new Cardinals team hosts his former Baltimore Ravens club Sunday for their second preseason game.
While Brown, along with most of the Cardinals starters, won't play this weekend, the matchup against the club from which he requested a trade provided the impetus for questions about his departure. Brown said Wednesday that he didn't have a personal issue with anyone in Baltimore but just wanted to play in a different offense.
"It's about happiness," Brown said, via the team's official website. "I want to feel like I am a part of something to win. At the Ravens, I just felt like sometimes they really didn't need me. Regardless if I was there or not, they were going to win games.
"I love the game too much. I want to be involved."
Among receivers, Brown certainly got the lion's share of targets in Baltimore, earning 146 last season, good for 10th-most in the NFL – one spot behind Ravens tight end Mark Andrews. But with the Ravens deploying a ground-first approach behind quarterback Lamar Jackson, Brown wanted to move to a more pass-happy offense like the one Kliff Kingsbury runs in Arizona.
With DeAndre Hopkins suspended for the first six games, the Cards need Hollywood to hit the ground running. While Brown hasn't had a ton of reps with Kyler Murray, the quarterback said his chemistry with his former University of Oklahoma teammate remains intact.
"I think (chemistry) is already built," Murray said. "It's the NFL, we still have to work on it. What we did, we did in the past. But there is a natural connection. It's weird because we talk about it but we haven't been on the field together in a long time."
Brown has dealt with a hamstring injury but declared himself 100 percent and will be ready for Week 1.
