The Las Vegas Raiders have agreed to a one-year contract with free agent receiver John Brown to replace the departing Nelson Agholor.
A person familiar with the deal says the sides agreed on the deal Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract hadn’t been signed.
Brown will earn $3.75 million with incentives that could raise it to $5.5 million, according to SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Adam Caplan, who first reported the deal.
The Raiders were seeking a veteran deep threat at receiver after Agholor left in free agency to New England and hope they found the answer in Brown.
Brown, who turns 31 in April, is coming off the second-least productive season of his career as he was limited to nine games because of knee and ankle injuries and got fewer targets because of the addition of Stefon Diggs in Buffalo.
Brown had 33 catches for 458 yards and three touchdowns last season to go along with 10 catches for 86 yards in three playoff games.
The Raiders are hoping for better production from Brown in 2021 with better health and a bigger role on an offense with fewer proven wide receivers.
Brown joins second-year players Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards, and third-year slot receiver Hunter Renfrow as the top options at the position in Las Vegas.
Ruggs and Edwards struggled as rookies with Ruggs catching just 26 passes and Edwards only 11 last season. Renfrow has 105 catches in two seasons but is mostly limited to slot duty.
The speedy Brown offers a deep threat with his 14.8 yards per reception ranking eighth in the NFL among players with at least 200 catches since 2014, with his average catch coming 11.1 yards downfield to rank sixth best.
Brown has topped 1,000 yards in a season twice in his career, recording 1,003 yards in 2015 in Arizona and 1,060 in 2019 with the Bills.
He has 320 career catches for 4,748 yards and 31 TDs in 96 games over seven seasons with Arizona, Baltimore and Buffalo.
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