TurkishFin99
Practice Squad
This from the Denver Post:
Many who have corresponded over the past week or so have taken great exception to the premise that not every football guy in the NFL is poised to surrender a bounty of draft picks in a trade to the Broncos for Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall.
It seems some people are troubled by the idea that any number of general managers and pro personnel executives believe Marshall has plenty going for him but still aren't sure if he can rise above what they characterize as "very good" status.
Many folks in Broncos Nation blame quarterback Kyle Orton for the fact that 64.4 percent of Marshall's receiving plays went for 10 yards or fewer as he finished with an average of 11.1 yards per catch.
But in the 2008 season, the Broncos passed for 4,471 yards — a record for the franchise — with Jay Cutler at quarterback. Marshall averaged 12.2 yards per catch that season and did not have a reception longer than 47 yards; he had three in 2009.
In an offense that passed the ball 620 times — 61.6 percent of the time, and 62 times more than this past season — Marshall still had just over half of his receiving plays (51 percent) go for 10 yards or fewer.
Marshall had 13 receiving plays of more than 21 yards in 2008 and 10 in 2009. He had six touchdown catches in 2008 and 10 in 2009.
Even in the "wide open" Denver offense of 2008, as some have called it, and with Cutler in the shotgun most of the time, the only area of the field where Marshall had significantly more production than the 2009 season was between 11 and 20 yards, not down the field.
Some of that is because the Broncos wanted the ball out quickly — Cutler was sacked just 11 times, even with his 616 attempts in 2008 — but also because of Marshall's comfort level catching the ball on routes that call for him to face the quarterback.
Those are short to intermediate routes in the middle of the field for the most part, more horizontal than vertical.
There's no question Marshall has the size and strength to dominate smaller cornerbacks. But it's still a question mark exactly how many of the NFL's toughest critics — the personnel executives the Broncos are going to ask to trade for him — believe Marshall is an elite player at his position.
The Broncos will get the answer to that in the coming weeks, and they need it to be at least one.
It seems some people are troubled by the idea that any number of general managers and pro personnel executives believe Marshall has plenty going for him but still aren't sure if he can rise above what they characterize as "very good" status.
Many folks in Broncos Nation blame quarterback Kyle Orton for the fact that 64.4 percent of Marshall's receiving plays went for 10 yards or fewer as he finished with an average of 11.1 yards per catch.
But in the 2008 season, the Broncos passed for 4,471 yards — a record for the franchise — with Jay Cutler at quarterback. Marshall averaged 12.2 yards per catch that season and did not have a reception longer than 47 yards; he had three in 2009.
In an offense that passed the ball 620 times — 61.6 percent of the time, and 62 times more than this past season — Marshall still had just over half of his receiving plays (51 percent) go for 10 yards or fewer.
Marshall had 13 receiving plays of more than 21 yards in 2008 and 10 in 2009. He had six touchdown catches in 2008 and 10 in 2009.
Even in the "wide open" Denver offense of 2008, as some have called it, and with Cutler in the shotgun most of the time, the only area of the field where Marshall had significantly more production than the 2009 season was between 11 and 20 yards, not down the field.
Some of that is because the Broncos wanted the ball out quickly — Cutler was sacked just 11 times, even with his 616 attempts in 2008 — but also because of Marshall's comfort level catching the ball on routes that call for him to face the quarterback.
Those are short to intermediate routes in the middle of the field for the most part, more horizontal than vertical.
There's no question Marshall has the size and strength to dominate smaller cornerbacks. But it's still a question mark exactly how many of the NFL's toughest critics — the personnel executives the Broncos are going to ask to trade for him — believe Marshall is an elite player at his position.
The Broncos will get the answer to that in the coming weeks, and they need it to be at least one.
Here's the link.
Maybe Brandon Marshall isn't as far out of reach as we originally thought.
