Think about the idea of a timed, precise short passing game, augmenting a running game that can not only get you the tough yards but has people who can take it to the house if they break into the secondary. Like the 80s 49ers. The defense will naturally come up and crowd the box. Now think of a tight end who can go long along the seam, and a blindingly fast SOB who can run past everybody in the box and catch the ball and he's gone.
Neither Hartline nor Bess is the fast SOB. But whoever he is, and for all we know he's already on the roster, he doesn't have to be a diva who always has to get the ball or he pitches a hissy fit in the locker room, and he doesn't have to be a guy who drops balls. The idea is to spread it around so the defense doesn't know whether to s*** or go blind. Marshall was antithetical to that idea, and that's why he's gone. If you want to call the fast SOB the number one, great. To me he's just the guy who can stretch the field. Gotta have one, but he's a cog in the machine, and it doesn't have to be Marshall, or someone like him.