The Denver Broncos aren't sure what happens next with wide receiver Brandon Marshall. He skipped a mandatory minicamp, wants a new contract and once told local police he has as much affection for Denver as Al Davis does for Mike Shanahan. Moreover, Marshall's agent said the disgruntled star wants out and that the Broncos will try to accommodate him.
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| Brandon Marshall caught 104 passes for 1,265 yards and six TDs last season. (Getty Images) |
And what is best for Denver is nothing. You heard me. Squat. The Broncos don't make a move here because there is no decision to make.
I don't care if Marshall is unhappy. I don't care if he doesn't like the new coaching staff. I don't give a flip whether he doesn't report to training camp, demands to be traded or doesn't play a down this season. What I do care about is the 52 other guys who fill the Broncos' roster, and so should new coach Josh McDaniels.
That's why this one is a no-brainer. If the organization caves in and gives Marshall what he wants -- which, I imagine, is a one-way ticket out of town -- every malcontent, every guy who isn't starting and every El demando who doesn't get his way will want the same thing, citing Marshall and Jay Cutler as role models.
Cutler was the Broncos' starting quarterback until he demanded a trade. Denver complied, and he's now the starting quarterback in Chicago. Fine. Denver decided it wanted someone it could trust at the most important position, and that someone was not Cutler. So it traded for Kyle Orton and draft picks.
I guess Marshall figured if he complained loud enough he might get the same treatment. But Marshall doesn't play the most important position on the team, and Marshall isn't the guy the rest of the club looks to for direction. If he were, there would be a traffic jam at the security checkpoints at Denver International.
Anyway, my point is this: Keeping Marshall has less to do with what he gives the Broncos on the field than the reverberations his exit could make with the rest of the team. San Diego general manager A.J. Smith is fond of saying that players and agents don't run clubs; owners, general managers and coaches do. And he is more than willing to offer a demonstration to anyone bold enough to challenge him.
Tight end Antonio Gates tried in the summer of 2005 when he was in the middle of negotiations for a new contract. Tired of the slow pace of the talks, Smith set a deadline for a settlement. If there wasn't a deal in place by then, he said, Gates would be suspended, simple as that. When the deadline passed, Gates was suspended three games, two exhibitions and the season opener.
He signed within days, and the Chargers haven't had a holdout since.
Look how Green Bay handled the Brett Favre situation a year ago. Essentially, Favre tried to tell the Packers how to run their club -- asking for his unconditional release when the Packers weren't interested. General manager Ted Thompson made the best of a bad situation by dealing him away, a reminder to Favre that no matter how big and how popular he is, Thompson makes the decisions for the Packers, not Favre.
Marshall will have to get the same message. The Broncos must do what is in their best interests, not what is in the best interest of Brandon Marshall. To surrender to him is to surrender control of the club. Don't like that third-down call? Demand a trade. Sick of sitting on the bench? Blast the head coach. Don't like the way the team is run? Tell everyone you hate Denver, the Broncos and thin air. Then invoke the Marshall Plan, telling people you only want what Marshall got.
Look, Marshall is a talented receiver, but he's not indispensable. The Broncos can live without him, which, as a matter of fact, they did last year when he was suspended for the season opener. All Eddie Royal did was catch nine passes for 146 yards, including one for a touchdown, in a 41-14 rout of Oakland. Two-and-a-half months later, the Raiders shredded Denver with Marshall in the lineup.
But that's not the point. Football is a team sport with everyone pulling in the same direction. That Marshall is miserable with his contract, the city of Denver or life in general doesn't mean he gets what he wants. Life doesn't work that way, and Anquan Boldin or Chad Johnson can serve as witnesses. It means it's up to Denver to clue in Marshall, and if it can't then the Broncos should move on without the guy until he comes around.
I don't care if it costs them a game. I don't care if it costs them two. The Chargers lost their season opener to Dallas without Gates, but Smith was more interested in the bigger picture than he was a ballgame. One game wasn't going to sabotage his club, but one player's complaints could. So Smith held fast to what he believed was best for his team, and I suggest McDaniels do the same.
McDaniels is young. He hasn't been a head coach before. And he will be pushed and tested by players, as parents are pushed and tested by children. But it's critical that he reminds them who's calling the shots. Smith did in San Diego, and the results speak for themselves: The Chargers won the AFC West the past three seasons and four of the last five.
Maybe it's time Denver paid attention. Let Marshall demand a new contract. Let him threaten to sit out training camp. Let him shred the city of Denver. In the end, this is all about who's in charge, and it's not Brandon Marshall.
