Is Brandon Marshall on His Way Out?

Well, the Josh McDaniels era is getting off to a wonderful start. First, his star quarterback forces his way out. Now, his star wide receiver has been suspended for the remainder of the pre-season. After a recent video surfaced of Marshall acting like a child at practice, it’s hard to argue with McDaniels on this one. Marshall initially wanted to restructure his contract, it appears that he now has no desire to be a part of the Broncos organization. Will Marshall be the next Bronco to force his way out of Denver?

It can’t feel good to be a Denver Bronco fan right now. After firing Mike Shanahan, the team turned to the young, up-and-coming, Josh McDaniels. Well, McDaniels got off to a rousing start in Denver. After a disagreement with Jay Cutler exploded, Cutler was sent to Chicago. While the Broncos did receive a nice haul for Cutler, they were highly criticized for letting go of a franchise quarterback. Now, it appears that they could be going down the same path with Marshall. After having off-season hip surgery, Marshall was unable to practice the entire off-season. In this first practice with the team, he injured his hamstring. Marshall did not play in the team’s second pre-season game after admitting that he did not learn the playbook. Marshall had also been demoted to the scout team. After his practice video surfaced, Marshall was suspended for the rest of the pre-season. At this point, it appears that Marshall is unwilling to cooperate with McDaniels. He did not want to learn the playbook before the suspension, and now he has no motivation to do so. The easy solution would be to just trade Marshall and get him out of Denver as soon as possible. However, if McDaniels gives in to Marshall’s demand, he sets a precedent for other players on the team that he is a pushover. Besides a trade, McDaniels can decide to play Marshall or continue to suspend him until he decides he wants to play.

Eddie Royal is Now the Broncos Best Wideout

While it does not happen often, what does McDaniels lose by suspending Marshall for the entire season? Yes, it would most likely be met with an appeal by the NFL Players Association. However, there appear to be more pros than cons. Unless Marshall has a complete change of heart, activating him seems like a bad idea. Everyone expects the Broncos to be terrible,with or without Marshall,  so either way it won’t make a difference if he plays. The Broncos actually have other options at Wide Receiver as well. Eddie Royal, who exceeded as a rookie last season, will now step in as the top receiver. Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley will fill in as the no. 2 and no. 3 options for Kyle Orton. All three of those players are sure-handed receivers that have had success at the NFL level. Also, Gaffney has played in McDaniels’ offense before, so he could surprise some people this season.

Alright, so it’s clear that Josh McDaniels is not off to a great start in Denver. At some point, it’s unclear if he will ever get a fair chance there. When hired, McDaniels was seen as a young offensive mastermind. After the issue with Cutler, and depending on how he handles Marshall, he may not get a chance to show why he was hired in the first place.