Now this is going to require a little imagination since we are going into the world of hypotheticals.  One of the more common thoughts voiced around these parts, and elsewhere, is that Marshall is trying to get money now since his stats are going to drop with Kyle Orton at QB.  Follow me across the jump if you want to explore this tidea in the land of make believe.

The first thing we have to do is go back a few weeks before Marshall's unhappiness was known.  At that point in time, what do you think a reasonable contract would have been and/or what do you think Marshall could have gotten on the open market, bearing in mind his hip injury and history of off the field incidents. 

 

Now assume that Brandon goes through 2009 showing no lingering effects of his injury and he stays out of trouble off the field.  Would a single season be enough to ease your concerns and give him a long term deal?  I assume that his value on the open market would increase somewhat, though not to the level of a player with no incidents or question marks.. 

So here's my question - How much would his stats have to drop off to decrease his market value by the same amount that he increased it with his health and stability?  If he dropped off to 80 catches for 1100 yds and 6 TD's would he be worth more or less on the open market in May 2010 as he was worth in May 2009.  How far would you have expected his stats to fall (prior to all this) and would that have left him as a more or less valuable commodity?

Since Marshall was in the last year of a contract he has outperformed, none of this is a surprise to me and I have been thinking about my answers to these questions.  But I am not going to post them now since I am more interested in the conversation and what you think and I don't want to steer it too much from the start.  However, I will add a comment at some point tommorrow with my thoughts