Brandon Marsall On The Move?

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Rumors are swirling around that Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall has a chance of joining a new team for the upcoming season.

Baltimore has even been in the mix of the discussion for his future, where his former head coach Marc Trestman recently signed to be the offensive coordinator. Obviously, things didn’t bode well for the Bears this past season, as they went 5-11 and had to clean house with the coaching staff.

They had also dealt with injuries, including Marshall himself, who missed the final three games of the season. Marshall had suffered a collapsed lung and two broken ribs. He also suffered a high ankle sprain in week one against the Buffalo Bills and an injury on his other ankle in week two. Ultimately, in summation, the season was an absolute disaster, maybe even the most disappointing season the Bears have ever faced (in terms of how much talent they had/brought in). Marshall ended the season with his lowest numbers since his sophomore year, catching 61 passes for 721 yards. It’s hard to really consider how much of his performance was affected by injuries that he played through, but it’s fair to say that he flat out disappeared in games that he normally wouldn’t this year.
On top of the injuries, Marshall has not been shy to the limelight of controversy, with incidents within the locker room and on Twitter. Following the Bears loss to the Dolphins in week seven, Marshall openly shared his frustration in the locker room, where screaming and even a personal altercation between Marshall and kicker Robbie Gould occurred.

This locker room situation seemed to provide enough coverage to be a distraction for his team to deal with in their debacle of a season. In addition to that, Marshall had also engaged on twitter with a Lions fan to host a charity boxing match between him and the fan, after the crude and personal insults he delivered towards Marshall and his family. These two incidents were cited as distractions, along with his involvement with “Inside the NFL” for Showtime network. With this all being said, does he deserve the relocation?

First off, Marshall recently was resigned to a three-year contract for $30 million dollars prior to the 2014 season. While this was a measure that former general manager Phil Emery took, if they released him prior to March 12th, this would be a tremendous loss for their offensive fire power.

Marshall still remains the go to receiver, the number one receiver, even with the diminished production in his injury-riddled season. The mere fact that he still was able to catch 61 passes in 13 games and have eight touchdowns – which are numbers that Chicago used to brag about having for receivers prior to 2012 – shows Marshall has the utmost capability in making himself a force to be reckoned with for opposing defenses.

Prior to last season, he had produced arguably the two best receiving campaigns in the organization’s lengthy history with back-to-back 100+ reception seasons, as well as 1295+ yards and 11+ touchdowns. On top of being a two-time Pro Bowl receiver within those two years, he was even an All Pro election in 2012.

While having an inconsistent year, Marshall looks to redeem himself this upcoming season for whichever team he ends up representing. Chicago will immediately regret his departure and the void he would leave at receiver. Immense production, highlighted with spectacular game changing performances would also be taken away. Just ask San Francisco with what he did to them in last year’s Sunday Night Football matchup, or better yet, I’ll show you below.

Photo via Ed Szczepanski: USA TODAY Sports Images