A Little about the Brandon Marshall Situation

As a preface, I study organizational communication, which in short is the study of how an organization is defined, what makes it successful or not, and how it manages membership through time via communication.

The Brandon Marshall situation is interesting to me particularly because of the “grey” issue of injuries in the NFL right now. On one side, the culture of the NFL strongly encourages – even requires – players to perform while injured. On the other side, recently it’s become increasingly evident that the cost of this cultural attitude is astoundingly heavy: many players’ lives after the NFL are seriously handicapped. Hence, players are starting to “wake up” to the realization that they can’t trust the NFL to fend for their own well-being; they must do this themselves.

But this clash runs so deep that it’s inherent in the game itself, and probably won’t be solved anytime soon. What I see in the Brandon Marshall situation is a prime example of this conflict playing out. My aim is to explain with some depth the validity of each side of the debate, starting with the NFL culture of sacrifice, exemplified by Josh McDaniels’ apparent stance, followed by Marshall’s reaction against this culture.

From the moment he became coach, McDaniels has preached the need for a team-first attitude, and accountability to the team. From an organizational standpoint, he’s spot on. In organizational communication, we share in use of a concept with other disciplines called “organizational identification.” To the degree that a person sees him or herself in terms of, or in context to, the organization, we say that they are “identified” with that organization. Some players, like Rod Smith, demonstrate an attitude of “I am a Denver Bronco. My ultimate goal is for this team to succeed, and all of my efforts are towards this end.” These players are strongly identified, to the extent that their personal sense of identity is intertwined with the Denver Broncos. They tend to feel a sense of responsibility to the organization, and they feel a sense of ownership of the team’s success or failure.

Ultimately, successful teams have a high number of these types of players (or “members”). This is true for any type of organization. I teach college-level courses, and I can tell you that the best classes are those in which the students feel a sense of belonging, and take ownership of the discussions and learning within the class. In short, they align their sense of purpose in the class to those overarching goals and purposes of the class itself. They are “ideal” students. Josh McDaniels – and other successful NFL coaches – understand this about football teams. He wants players who fully devote and focus their energy, time, and their sense of identity towards success of the team. Teams who collectively build this type of identification and shared purpose will tap into motivations within themselves that extend beyond ordinary effort in the NFL, and this leads to winning games and championships. In this day and age when talent and ability are so plentiful in the NFL, it is the teams who develop a sense of internal purpose and motivation that are inspired to give the extraordinary effort that wins individual games. McDaniels understands this, and has clearly sought to build this type of team.

Brandon Marshall is throwing a wrench into McDaniel’s efforts. Typically, the obstacles to building this type of team are “me-first” players who care more about personal stats, league-wide recognition, or how big their paychecks are. To some degree, Marshall does worry about stats and paydays, but these concerns seem to result from the greater concern over his health and well-being. With the incident last year regarding his hip, Marshall grew to distrust team physicians. He was encouraged to play through a hip injury, and was told by team physicians that he couldn’t hurt the hip anymore than it was already hurt. However, later he consulted with outside doctors, who told him that he needed offseason surgery, and that he did indeed hurt the hip more by playing. In this case, Brandon Marshall had complied with the team-first demands, sacrificing himself for the benefit of the team, but was burned for it. He realized the team wasn’t looking out for him. Combine this experience with the ongoing accumulation of stories and examples of ex-NFL players who suffer chronic pain and/or physical & mental debilitation, and it’s easy to see how such distrust of the team would grow. I personally can’t blame current NFL players who recognize 1) the very short-spanned earning potential of an NFL career; 2) the serious health-risks of that career; and 3) the horrible track-record of the NFL taking care of its players after their career is over.

The NFL will indeed use your physical talents and abilities until they’re gone. Then they’ll send you on your way with little concern for your quality of life after your playing days are done. Players who wise up to this process realize that they must make as much money as possible in a short time, and they need to hope for the big payday of free agency. In short, they need to make enough money to secure a quality life for after their career, when they work for relative peanuts, and they need to make sure they can pay the medical bills that are likely to pile up. In order to qualify for the big payday in free agency, they need the stats and league-wide recognition. Brandon Marshall seems to be a player who recognizes these needs, and is handling his career in accordance to them.

However, the conflict should be clear by now. Winning in the NFL requires a sacrifice from players, to identify whole-heartedly with a team and a culture that won’t return the favor. The successful teams in the NFL tend to comprised of players who turn their back on their personal health and well-being, because they identify strongest with the team. And yet, if those players look realistically at what this will give them, they recognize they may be digging themselves a hole for life after the NFL, and they can see why some former players are speaking out, saying they wish they’d never played.

It’s a flawed system, and it’s flawed because of the physical and violent nature of the game. Josh McDaniels, as an NFL coach, is preaching exactly as he should preach. Brandon Marshall is thinking responsibly as an NFL player in a precarious situation. I can’t blame either.

Overall, this inherent conflict in the game itself has just led me personally to take a step back as a fan of the NFL. That is, my own personal identification to the Denver Broncos has suffered, and I’m not so strongly invested in, and attached to, the wins or losses of the Broncos.