Roughly two weeks ago, wide receiver Brandon Marshall asked Broncos’ owner Pat Bowlen in a private meeting to be traded. A few days later, Marshall’s agent said that Denver would abide by the receiver’s wishes and do everything they could to deal him.
Turns out the agent was wrong.
According to a report by ESPN.com, the Broncos are standing firm on not trading the disgruntled Marshall, even though that might mean him skipping training camp next month and sitting out the first month or so of the regular season.
After the Jay Cutler fiasco, the Broncos don’t want to set a precedent for allowing players to bolt just because they don’t like their contract, their role with the team, or the stadium’s hot dogs. They learned their lesson with Cutler and aren’t about to allow Marshall to throw a temper tantrum and get away with it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Denver’s stance won’t backfire. Marshall is extremely upset with the way the team’s doctors treated his hip injury and doesn’t want them handling his rehab. He’s also furious about his contract situation, as he’s in the final year of his rookie deal that’s paying him roughly minimum wage in terms of NFL money.
Somebody will have to cave for this situation to get resolved. If Marshall loves football and doesn’t want to miss any games, then he’ll show up at some point this summer. But if he cares more about the money, then he might force the Broncos into making a decision about whether or not to trade him so they could get compensation for when he bolts at the end of the year via free agency.
