Unsurprisingly, wide receiver Brandon Marshall's restricted free agency continues to dominate the news cycle as far as the Denver Broncos are concerned. Earlier today we got this fresh insight from the National Football Post's Michael Lombardi (hat tip to T.Dot_Broncos for sharing this via FanShot):
I fully expect another team to jump into the Brandon Marshall sweepstakes at some point this week. Not certain which team, but it appears Marshall has more than one team interested in his services. I do know this: The Denver Broncos won’t negotiate a trade for Marshall. Either a team is prepared to pay a first-rounder or move along. Denver will not take calls on Marshall; it’s either an offer sheet or he plays in Denver next season. If Seattle really wants Marshall, it will take the sixth pick in the draft….
Forget about what Lombardi believes (that another team will join the Seattle Seahawks in the pursuit of Brandon this week) and focus on what he claims to know (that the Broncos will not negotiate a trade for Marshall). We went into this process thinking that we could get value equivalent to first and third round draft picks in exchange for our disgruntled Pro Bowl WR and worried all of yesterday about the prospect of not even securing a single first round selection in return for him, but it seems as though - as is often the case - the truth lies somewhere in between. To paraphrase Mike Lombardi: Denver will either be picking twice in the first round of this year's draft or Brandon Marshall will be donning our beloved Orange and Blue yet again next season.