Kyler Murray, Marquise Brown latest duo to be reunited in NFL

So much has been written and talked about when it comes to Derek Carr and Davante Adams being former college teammates reunited with the Raiders, you’d think it was some sort of football phenomenon.

Not so. Sort of getting to be quite common, really.

The Raiders host Arizona on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, where the Cardinals have their own quarterback-wide receiver combination from some good ol’ college days at Oklahoma in Kyler Murray and Marquise Brown.

That’s not all. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase of the Bengals set all sorts of records when together at Louisiana State.

And there is the Alabama connection between Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle in Miami.

You have to think certain words define all such pairings.

Chemistry: It develops over time as two players become more and more comfortable with the tendencies of the other.

Trust: The ability to rely on each other in good times and bad. Through all the success and adversity an NFL season offers.

Familiarization: Knowing the skill set of each other, of the type of ball a quarterback throws and how a receiver comes out of his breaks.

Repetition: Carr said he has thrown Adams thousands of passes over the years, from their time at Fresno State to their offseason workouts.

It all becomes so natural. The journeys of Carr-Adams and Murray-Brown reconvening with their present teams are eerily similar, though with not as much time in between for the latter duo.

They starred for the Sooners as recently as 2018, when Brown hauled in 10 touchdown passes and had 11 catches for 40 or more yards.

But they often talked about — much like Carr and Adams all those years while one led the Raiders and the other set records for the Packers — of one day playing for the same NFL team. Worked out together. Dreamed the dream.

Getting their wish

“If you’ve spent time with somebody, you probably have a comfort level that’s built up over many years,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said. “No question, Marquise and Kyler know each other — there’s body language. Like that unspoken eye contact they have, I’m sure. No doubt, (familiarity) helps.”

Both were first-round draft picks — Murray went No. 1 overall to Arizona and Brown at No. 25 to the Ravens. But things happen, and Brown became disillusioned with his place in Baltimore’s offense. He requested a trade.

He got his wish during the draft in April, when the Cardinals sent a first-round pick to the Ravens for Brown and a third-round selection.

And so the tweets about running things back, similar to those of Carr and Adams, hit social media.

“I think (the chemistry is) already built,” Murray told reporters during training camp.“Obviously, you still got to work on it. This is the NFL. What we did is in the past. But it’s just a natural connection. It’s weird, we talk about it and then we haven’t been on the field together in a long time.

“Just chilling off the field it’s like, ‘Damn, bro, we’re really on the same team.’ ”

Not so much a phenomenon at all.

Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.