Broncos need to trade malcontent Marshall

I’m watching a rerun of the TV series “Frasier” the other night and Kelsey Grammer’s character decides to try to renegotiate his talk show contract with the radio station he’s working for. While he sits at home waiting for station management to call him and beg him to come back, Frasier’s father can’t resist the chance to offer up his opinion.

“Where I come from,” Martin Crane says, “If a man signs a contract, he honors that contract.”

I wonder if Brandon Marshall was watching the same show I was watching? Probably not. Evidently, Marshall doesn’t believe in the importance of a contract any more than Frasier Crane did.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why Marshall and his agent would pick right now to start a hold out that has no chance of ending up in the wide receiver’s favor. It’s an incredibly bone headed move. Marshall just dodged a bullet and avoided more disciplinary action for yet another in his endless string of off the field issues, and then had the whole ugly episode(s) profiled on ESPN. It would seem to be a good time to lay low, do what you’re supposed to do as you rehab from yet another injury, and be thankful that you have a chance to be in the line-up when September rolls around. This is a contract year for Marshall. It’s a chance to put up big numbers for a season and set your self up for a nice free agent pay day in 2010.

But does Marshall do the smart thing? Not exactly. Instead, opts to try to force things with the new Bronco regime – who have already proven to have a good deal of backbone in these areas – and demand a pay raise BEFORE his contract is up and while he as ZERO leverage. Amazing AND stupid at the same time.

Bronco’s owner Pat Bowlen has done the smart thing – again – and refused to buckle to Marshall’s ridiculous demands, thereby causing the resident diva wide receiver to request a trade. He’s posting sad goodbyes on his blog site, to the effect of “this is what’s best for everyone.” It sounds more like a broken high school romance than the dealings of a professional athlete.

Why should this be a surprise? Marshall has been as much about ‘drama’ since he’s been here as he’s been about catching footballs. His disastrous love life could be a bad reality TV show, and the police calls he’s been involved with could fill up an hour of “Cops.” Through it all, the Broncos have had his back – standing by him through all of his many missteps. So how does Marshall repay the team’s loyalty? He demands more money or a trade.

Where I come from, guys like Marshall are called ‘malcontents,’ and they are NOT guys you want on your team. They are more about the name on the back of the jersey than the name on the front.

During my baseball career, I played with one of MLB’s best known and most well traveled malcontents, Gary Sheffield. A gifted player and possible future Hall of Famer, Sheffield has played for eight teams during his 21 year career. You would think that a guy that can produce like that on the field would be able to stay in one place long enough to unpack, but not Sheff. He arrives, things are good for awhile, but eventually not everything is exactly to his liking, he starts fusing, and ends up going, going, gone.

I was pitching for Milwaukee when Sheff made his big league debut with the Brewers in 1988. He was a highly touted prospect and had been carefully brought up through the Milwaukee farm system. Everything was good until management decided to move him from shortstop to third base. He decided the move was racially motivated, complained loudly that the organization had made his life a living hell, and demanded to be traded. The Brewers gladly obliged. They knew that a talented malcontent is still a malcontent, and knew it would not be worth it. A one point while we were all Brewers, Hall of Famer Paul Molitor called a team meeting just so we could all ask Gary what it was he really wanted from us, his team-mates? His act made the clubhouse a very uncomfortable place, and he’s kept doing the same thing for more than two decades now.

Marshall, like so many of the other DWR’s (Diva Wide Receivers) in the NFL, is nothing more than a malcontent. No matter how talented he is, and what he is capable of doing on the field, it’s simply not worth it. The Broncos need to trade him – maybe to someplace like Cleveland in exchange for the Browns unhappy (but far more trouble free) wide out Braylon Edwards? If they make a good trade like they did in getting rid of malcontent QB Jay Cutler, it could be another win win for Denver. Get a good player(s) while getting rid of a malcontent. The Broncos would be better off on and off the field.
 

For more info: Denver Broncos Examiner Greg Henry