Brandon Marshall (WR) - Pro Football Rumors

NFC West Rumors: Marshall, 49ers, Sherman

June 17th, 2018 at 2:26pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Seahawks signed Brandon Marshall only two weeks before their minicamp, but they will have to wait until training camp to see how much the 34-year-old wide receiver has left. Due to a hamstring injury, Marshall did not participate in any team drills at the remaining Seattle OTA sessions nor at the team’s minicamp. Marshall was already coming off an injury, with his 2017 season ending early thanks to ankle surgery, but Pete Carroll said the 13th-year pass-catcher should be ready to go by the time the team reconvenes for training camp.

“We’re just making sure that we don’t have a setback on a hamstring that’s recovering,” Carroll said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “We talked about it today – he’s got a solid six weeks; he’ll be well. We need to do a really good job as we re-introduce him back into our tempo and speed and all that, that we don’t overdo it early in the excitement to see what he can do and all.”

Marshall only signed for one year and $1.1MM. Although plenty of incentives are included, only $90K of that pact is guaranteed.

Here’s what’s new out of the NFC West on Sunday afternoon.

49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said he experienced Achilles issues during his final offseason workouts with the Seahawks, and the problem worsened in last year’s training camp. Once the regular season began, Sherman said he knew this was a significant issue. “We just kind of babied it as long as we could,” Sherman said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “But you can’t baby it in a game.” The eighth-year corner did not participate in team drills yet with the 49ers but is expected to in camp.
Laken Tomlinson has the left guard spot secured, but the 49ers look to have a three-man competition going for their right guard position. And thus far, 2016 first-round pick Joshua Garnett has seen the most time there, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. Garnett, who spent all of last season on IR in a partial effort to adjust his body to better suit Kyle Shanahan‘s zone-blocking scheme, split time with the recently signed Mike Person. However, Jonathan Cooper did not participate in San Francisco’s minicamp because of left knee surgery and will be a threat to start opposite Tomlinson this season.
Second-year San Francisco slot receiver Trent Taylor is recovering from back surgery, Branch notes. He underwent the procedure several weeks ago to remove bone spurs, per Branch, but Shanahan expects him back by camp.
While Josh Rosen is the Cardinals’ quarterback of the future, it doesn’t appear likely he’ll play ahead of Sam Bradford to start this season.

Brandon Marshall: “I Didn’t Have A Ton Of Options”

June 1st, 2018 at 5:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Brandon Marshall finally landed a contract for the 2018 season earlier this week, inking a one-year pact with the Seahawks. But Marshall himself admits there weren’t many suitors for his services during the free agent period.

“I didn’t have a ton of options,” Marshall said Wednesday, according to Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “I think the sentiment around the league is that I’m done, and I get it. Rightfully so. When you get on the other side of 30 and your production slips and you have a big injury, people just count you out. So it was an interesting process. It was a humbling process, to say the least.

There were some really tough days that I had to push through, mentally and physically, so for this to be an opportunity and come to [fruition], you can’t ask for a better situation. You’ve got probably a top-three quarterback, you’ve got one the best franchises, you’ve got a young nucleus, guys that are hungry and ready to compete.”

It’s perhaps unsurprising Marshall had to wait until late May to find a new contract after being released by the Giants in April. Not only is Marshall entering his age-34 campaign, but he hasn’t been productive since the 2015 season, when he posted 109 receptions, 1,502 yards, and a league-leading 14 touchdowns for the Jets. Injuries have limited his effectiveness and overall production, and Marshall appeared in only five games a year ago before going on injured reserve with a ankle injury.

The details of Marshall’s contract with Seattle also reinforce the lack of interest in the veteran wideout. Marshall received just $90K in guarantees, but his new deal is not a minimum salary benefit pact because it contains incentives. While Marshall can collect a maximum salary of $2.155MM in 2018, he’d have to top 70 receptions, 800 receiving yards, and seven touchdowns to do so.

Those numbers aren’t completely out of the question: if Marshall has anything left, he could quickly vault up a Seahawks wide receiver depth chart that doesn’t offer much competition. Doug Baldwin will assume his usual role with heavy usage in the slot, but Marshall could overtake the likes of Tyler Lockett, Jaron Brown, and Amara Darboh, among others.

Details On Brandon Marshall’s Contract

May 31st, 2018 at 12:56pm CST by Zachary Links

The Seahawks don’t have much to lose in their contract with wide receiver Brandon Marshall. The veteran’s $90K signing bonus represents the only guaranteed portion of his one-year deal, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter).

The modest signing bonus means that the Seahawks can bail on the deal between now and September if Marshall does not play up to par in practice. If he does make the team, he’s in line for just $1.015MM in base pay. After that, he can earn another $1MM through incentives to bring the value of his deal as high as $2.155MM. Here’s the complete breakdown of those bonuses, courtesy of Yates:

40-49 receptions: $75K
50-59 receptions: $125K
60-69 receptions: $250K
70+ receptions: $350K
500-599 receiving yards: $75K
600-699 yards: $125K
700-799 receiving yards: $250K
800+receiving yards: $350K
7+ receiving touchdowns: $350K

Assuming all goes well in Seattle over the next three months and change, a decent chunk of Marshall’s incentives should be attainable. Even in a down year with the Jets in 2016, Marshall still had 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns. If he were to reprise that stat line, the 34-year-old would earn $375K of the potential ~$1MM payout. Add another reception to that total and Marshall is looking at $500K, roughly half of his potential bonus earnings.

Of course, Marshall didn’t come close to those numbers last year as an early season injury sidelined him for all but five games in 2017. He’ll do his best to get back to his 2015 output when he had 109 catches for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns – numbers that would allow him to max out his Seahawks deal and, more importantly, position him for a better deal in 2019, should he choose to continue playing in his age-35 season. In December, Marshall indicated that he would like to play through the ’19 season.

If Marshall is healthy, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him positioned as the team’s No. 2 wide receiver behind Doug Baldwin. Tyler Lockett, free agent addition Jaron Brown, and speedy trade acquisition Marcus Johnson figure to round out Seattle’s top five. Until last year’s injury-shortened season, Marshall averaged 164 targets per 16 games as an NFL starter.

Seahawks To Sign Brandon Marshall

May 29th, 2018 at 1:24pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Brandon Marshall has finally found a home. After struggling to draw much interest after being released by the Giants in April, Marshall has signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks, worth up to $2MM if incentives are reached, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). Marshall visited the Seahawks a couple weeks ago, and apparently showed he’s still got enough left in the tank to earn a deal.

Marshall was let go by the Giants after just one injury-plagued season. Signed by the Giants to a two-year $12MM deal, Marshall ended up playing in just five games during his brief stay in New York. He never was able to develop any chemistry with Eli Manning and caught just 18 passes for 154 scoreless yards before an ankle injury ended his season.

The Seahawks were looking to add some receiver help after the departure of Paul Richardson in free-agency. Their depth chart was a bit thin behind starters Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett. They signed Jaron Brown in March, but Marshall should be able to beat him out for the starting job opposite Lockett, with Baldwin in the slot, if he’s healthy.

Marshall is 34 years old now, but was still productive in 2016 and was one of the best receivers in football in 2015. That year, he caught 109 passes for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns, helping Ryan Fitzpatrick complete a career resurgence and very nearly leading the Jets to the playoffs.

With Marshall now signed, the veteran free-agent receiver market is even thinner. Dez Bryant continues to be the biggest name left, along with Jeremy Maclin and Eric Decker. Those three may sign quicker now that Marshall is off the board and has set the market for the past-his-prime receiver as Schefter points out.

Seahawks Meet With WR Brandon Marshall

May 9th, 2018 at 1:20pm CST by Zachary Links

Former Jets and Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall is visiting the Seahawks, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). This marks Marshall’s first known visit since his release from the Giants in April.

Marshall was one of several Giants receivers to go down with a serious injury in 2017. The veteran missed the missed the bulk of the year after undergoing ankle surgery in October. Without the services of Odell Beckham Jr. and Marshall, the Giants went into a tailspin and finished out with a 3-13 record last season.

Marshall topped 1,500 yards in his 2015 season with the Jets, but he has not been able to reprise that production in the last two years. In 2016, he had just 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns, a big step back from the previous year in which he had a league-leading 14 TDs. Last year, he caught 18 passes for 154 yards in five games with zero TDs.

The Seahawks replaced Paul Richardson with Jaron Brown this offseason, but they could still use some additional firepower in their wide receiver group. Marshall would give the Seahawks a formidable top four of Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Marshall, and Brown, perhaps with the speedy Marcus Johnson rounding out the bunch.

Giants Release WR Brandon Marshall

April 19th, 2018 at 1:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants released wide receiver Brandon Marshall with a failed physical designation, GM Dave Gettleman announced. Marshall was set to enter the final year of a two-year, $12MM contract signed in 2017.

By releasing the veteran, the G-Men will save $5.1MM against the salary cap. Marshall, 34, feels that he has multiple seasons left in the tank, but the Giants do not concur. At least, they did not feel that Marshall had enough juice to justify his salary.

“I’m all-in on football. I’ve rebuilt my body,” Marshall said in December. “I think I’m two great years away from — and I’ll say it, I want to be a Hall of Famer, and I think I got two great years to go to be mentioned with some of the greats. I’m not just playing this game just to be a guy; I want to be remembered for the product that I put out on the field.”

Marshall was one of several Giants receivers to succumb to injury in 2017 as he missed the bulk of the year after undergoing ankle surgery. He topped 1,500 yards in his 2015 season with the Jets, but he has not been able to reprise that production. In 2016, he had just 59 catches for 788 yards and three touchdowns, a big step back from the previous year in which he had a league-leading 14 TDs.

Earlier this week, Marshall took to social media to inform free agent Dez Bryant that there is “no room” for him in New York. The Giants now have the necessary space – from both financial and football perspectives – to add Bryant, if they wish. For his part, Bryant is eager to join up with the Giants and exact revenge on his former employers.

La Canfora On T. Johnson, Crabtree, Marshall

February 16th, 2018 at 1:03pm CST by Zachary Links

Cornerback Trumaine Johnson will not be back with the Rams, according a league source who spoke with Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. Johnson is coming off of his second straight franchise tag and there is no realistic chance of the team hitting him with a third tender for $20MM, but it appears that the team is not interested in keeping him on board altogether.

Johnson graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 68 corner out of 121 players at the position this past year and it’s safe to say the Rams expected more after investing $37MM in him over the past two seasons. The Rams may feel that Johnson’s reputation will drive up his cost on the open market, making a new deal untenable.

Here’s more from JLC:

Safety Sean Smith and wide receiver Michael Crabtree are not in the Raiders’ plans, JLC hears. If that’s the case, moving on from both players will create about $16MM in cap and cash savings. It’s no surprise to hear that Smith is likely out of the picture in Oakland – he underperformed in 2017, he is facing felony assault charges, and his entire $8.5MM cap charge can be wiped clean from the books. Crabtree’s status isn’t so cut and dry, particularly after Jon Gruden‘s recent comments indicating that he was looking forward to working with the veteran.
Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall feels that he has multiple seasons left in the tank, but JLC hears that he is not in the team’s plans for 2018. Marshall, who will turn 34 in March, can be released in order to create $5.1MM in cap space with just $1MM in dead money. The veteran missed the bulk of the season after undergoing ankle surgery.
League sources believe that Bears quarterback Mike Glennon will not be back with the team this season. The Bears signed Glennon three-year, $45MM deal last March with the hope that he could hold down the starting job for at least one year while Mitch Trubisky learned on the sidelines. After Glennon faltered for the first month of the season, he was given the hook in favor of the team’s top draft pick. The Bears could save $11.5MM by releasing or trading Glennon with $4.5MM left on the cap.
JLC also hears that cornerback Kyle Fuller will not be retained by the Bears. Chicago declined Fuller’s fifth-year option last offseason which was something of a no-brainer after he spent all of 2016 on IR. This year, Fuller looked sharp as he totaled 68 tackles and placed as PFF’s No. 22 ranked cornerback over the likes of Ronald Darby, Byron Maxwell, Jason McCourty, Richard Sherman, and other notables.

Brandon Marshall Eyeing Multiple Additional Seasons

December 29th, 2017 at 10:34am CST by Sam Robinson

Brandon Marshall‘s Giants contract has not produced what the team envisioned. The 12th-year wide receiver barely made it into October before an injury cost him the rest of this season.

Signed to a two-year contract, Marshall wants to play beyond that deal despite this latest setback.

“I’m all-in on football. I’ve rebuilt my body,” Marshall said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. “I think I’m two great years away from — and I’ll say it, I want to be a Hall of Famer, and I think I got two great years to go to be mentioned with some of the greats. I’m not just playing this game just to be a guy; I want to be remembered for the product that I put out on the field.”

Marshall will turn 34 in March, and he’s one of the oldest skill-position players in the league. But Marshall has defied norms during his eventful career. One of the most productive nomads in NFL history, having posted 1,000-yard seasons with four teams, Marshall has still yet to appear in a playoff game. His production dropped off for the 2016 Jets, with a 788-yard season following a 1,502-yard 2015 campaign. However, the Giants signed Marshall to a two-year, $12MM deal in March.

He’s set to make $5MM in base salary next season, but the now-Dave Gettleman-managed Giants will have a new head coach in place and are going to be coming off a two- or three-win season. So, Marshall’s spot in New York can’t be considered solid. The Giants could create $5.1MM in cap space by releasing him.

Marshall, who has resumed running after an October ankle surgery, was rather ambiguous when asked if he’d consider accepting a pay cut.

“You know how it is, you get to the plus side of 30, a production slip, you get injured, the business side of it, history says that you’re going to get cut or they are going to ask you to take a pay cut,” Marshall said. “That’s the business side of it; that’s history. So I’m prepared for that. I’ve had a lot of change in my life, but one of the reasons why I came to this organization was for stability and also not to be an environment that we created this year, right? So I was looking for more stability, but I’m built for this and I’ll learn from it.

“… It’s about respect; it’s about finishing strong, and although it’s not about the money, but I’m approaching it as whatever is for me, I want it all. If that’s $100,000, $500,000, $1 million, I want it all. Whatever I’m worth, I want it all.”

East Rumors: DRC, Marshall, Cowboys

October 15th, 2017 at 10:08am CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a swing around the league’s East divisions:

In keeping with reports from several days ago, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that Giants CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie will miss Big Blue’s matchup against the Broncos this week, but he will be back for next week’s game against Seattle, which means he will have served just one game of a possible four-game suspension.
Giants WR Brandon Marshall, who is out for the season due to an ankle injury, has no plans to retire, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Said Marshall, “I’m a competitor, and I don’t want to go out like that. I’m definitely not going out like that.” The report does not come as a major surprise, as Marshall indicated when he signed his two-year deal with the Giants that he would retire at the end of that contract, which expires after the 2018 season.
Former Dolphins OL coach Chris Foerster has checked into a rehab facility in Miami, per Schefter. Foerster’s decision comes less than a week after his resignation from his post with the Dolphins following publication of a video that shows him snorting a white, powdery substance off a desk in the Dolphins’ training facility. Should another NFL club try to hire him in the future — and he had been in demand in the past — he would be subject to league discipline.
Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports that Patriots LB Shea McClellin, who is eligible to begin practicing this week after opening the season on IR, appears to be close to returning to the field. WR Malcolm Mitchell , however, is not close to returning, and he may not be back this year. DT Vincent Valentine, who went on IR on September 22, could be back at some point this season.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has become a vocal member of the anti-protest contingent in the NFL, and according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, that is creating anger and frustration in the team’s locker room. The anthem issue had not been a hot topic among the Cowboys before Jones’ public statements on the matter, but Jones has helped to make it one, which is not good for a team that already has plenty of on-field concerns.
Despite a great deal of confusion on the matter, we learned earlier today that Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott will remain suspended unless and until he receives an en banc hearing from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the temporary restraining order that was previously issued is reinstated. The odds of that happening are pretty slim.

Giants’ Brandon Marshall Done For Season

October 9th, 2017 at 9:57pm CST by Zachary Links

Giants wide receiver Brandon Marshall announced on Instagram that he will have season-ending ankle surgery. This marks yet another devastating setback for the 0-5 Giants.

In Week 5, the Giants lost four receivers to injury and three of them – Odell Beckham Jr., Dwayne Harris, and Marshall – for the season. Initially, the feeling was that Marshall could return after missing a handful of games, but those hopes have been dashed.

Marshall, who joined the team this offseason, recently found his groove, but he might have played his last game for Big Blue on Sunday. He is under contract through 2018 thanks to his two-year, $12MM deal, but he is afforded little security beyond this season.

At the age of 33, he was eager to prove that he could still produce at a high level. He struggled mightily in the Jets’ offensive quagmire in 2016, but he reeled in 109 catches for 1,502 yards and 14 touchdowns in the previous season.

Marshall’s season ends with 18 catches for 154 yards in five games, including 14 receptions for 112 yards combined in Weeks 3 and 4.