I would agree, his over stats point to a player who is just not playing completely up to his potential. If he can move past himself, I believe he could be one of the best receivers of this era. The physical skill is certainly there, but his mental approach to the game seems to need some work. At this point he is only proving he is a risk and not an asset. The only way to change it is on the field with consistent production. Elite receivers score points, Brandon has not proven he is and elite receiver, yet. I believe if he just gets in camp, he’ll come around and get the coaching to help him improve and become who he thinks he is. Just my thoughts.

Excellent analysis, Jaff. Rec’d for the compare & contrast of Marshall’s assets & liabilities to our team. I’m glad for this break prior to camp to allow the realities of the here & now to hopefully crystallize in Brandon’s mind. He is at a crossroads in his career,& I hope that he chooses wisely. Quite frankly, I think the Broncos will be fine with our without him. How weird is that? Such a physically gifted & productive player, & I’m OK with losing him? I guess the team first approach with this new herd of Broncos is becomming stronger, & radiating outward into the psyche of the fans. Any one player who thinks he is bigger than the team becomes expendable. I hope BMarsh buys in, shows up for camp, & becomes all that he can be in this new era. If not, I hope a fair trade can be arranged that will bring us equal value. I am comfortably numb either way.

Here’s the thing – Brandon is one of only a couple of players in history to achieve two back to back 100 catch seasons in his first three years. Yes, he’s worth it – even if he’s a genuine pain in the tush. At his height (6’4.5) and 230, he’s of incredible size. He runs sloppy routes (was projected by scouts.com for the 6th round for that reason). He needs to mature as a player and a human. And he’s incredibly talented. Whether or not he’ll choose to maximize that is another question.

He has had a series of injuries, on and off the field. Look at this from an article I wrote on him:

In 2006 he suffered a posterior cruciate ligament tear during preseason. As has been his pattern however, he healed quickly and returned a few weeks later to play 15 of the 16 regular-season games, starting one, and scoring his lone TD for the season on a Sunday Night Football game against Seattle; the game was Cutler’s first. Marshall broke and spun away from three tackles on his way to a career-high 71-yard touchdown that was the second longest rookie-to-rookie pass play in Broncos history.

2007 brought more preseason injuries – a groin strain that kept him out of activities in May and June and a sprained quadriceps femoris that kept him out of minicamp until a frustrated Shanahan ordered him to participate for the last few days. From that time on, he was a starter. During the 2007 season, Marshall posted team and career highs in receptions (102), receiving yards (1,325) and receiving touchdowns (7).

But in the off-season of 2008, Marshall severely injured his right arm during an incident for which he gave multiple and conflicting explanations. He suffered damage to the muscles, tendons, nerves, a ligament and the blood vessels in the forearm. The damage was repaired and he returned ahead of schedule to camp, but he stated late in the season that he was still experiencing some numbness at times. That would be normal, and is consistent with what the Broncos have made public – the nerves will heal more in the next year and should reach full recovery late this year, if those reports are accurate.

At the end of 2008, Brandon revealed that a hip issue had been bothering him for the last several games. It reduced his ability to cut and to run after the catch. In hindsight, it made a change in his production understandable. The fact that he didn’t mention it or use it as an excuse shows a different side of Brandon.

That’s about it. He has big upsides and big downsides. Overall, if you can keep him, keep him on the field, you’re doing well. If you expect to keep him our of trouble, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Personally, I’d consider him on his last chance, but I’d try to get him on the field.

He’s started for two years. Here are the awards and records for that time:

* He already holds the record for most receptions over a five-game span in NFL history (55).
    * He is the only player in NFL history to have at least 10 receptions in four out of five consecutive games.
    * He is tied for the second-most catches in an NFL game with Tom Fears at 18 (the record is 20 by Terrell Owens).
    * He caught 102 passes in 2007, becoming only the third second-year player in NFL history to have at least 100 receptions in a season (joining Isaac Bruce and Larry Fitzgerald).
    * He is the ninth player in NFL history to have at least 100 catches in back-to-back seasons (2007 and 2008), and the second Bronco to do so (Rod Smith was the first).
    * 2008 Pro Bowl Selection
    * Week 2 2008 AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Marshall was the most targeted because Cutler locked in on him. His reception rate was lower than comparable receivers because Cutler threw it to him whether he was covered or not. I seem to remember Brandon making quite a few catches in traffic. Also, I think a major contributing factor to his low YPC was the bubble screen that fooled nobody and typically gained about two yards.

With that said, I think the fact that Marshall couldn’t get open and his failure to be successful with the screens were both due to his loss of explosiveness from his injury.

Yards per catch is, I think, an overused statistic. Many of BM’s short yardage catches were short third down conversions in plenty of traffic and therefore were not designed for big yardage – we just needed a first down. And given our defense over the past couple of years, I was always praying for long, multi-play, clock-chewing drives to keep the other team’s offense off the field. Football is too situational to get so focused on stats in a vacuum. Go Broncs!