Why Brandon Marshall Is a Difficult Fit in Any Offense

This is not an article meant to bash Brandon Marshall by focusing on his off the field issues or tear him down and call him a bad player.

It is merely an evaluation of a very good receiver and the severe limitations he brings to an offense that tries to use him as its No. 1 receiver.

Again, there is no doubt that Marshall is a very good receiver in the NFL. He just finished his third consecutive season with 100-plus catches and will be going to his second consecutive Pro Bowl next month.

It is of my opinion that Marshall, as he is right now, is not a true No. 1 receiver in the NFL.

Now I'm sure when people hear this they will look at me like I am crazy, but there is definitely a valid reason for this if you look at a key stat from this year's numbers.

This year Marshall finished with 101 catches, 1,120 yards, 11.1 YPC, and 10 TDs.

The key thing with these numbers is Marshall's low YPC at just 11.1. When one looks into this further, it becomes apparent where Marshall's main limitation is, and that is his inability to take advantage of the deep ball.

Marshall simply isn't physically aggressive enough when the ball is in the air, which is strange when you look at his massive 6'4", 230-pound frame and physical nature with the ball in his hands.

However, it's true. Just look back at the week 16 game against Philadelphia, where Marshall got outmuscled and beat in a jump ball situation against Eagles corner Sheldon Brown, who gives up six inches and 40 pounds. It seems like people merely assume due to Marshall's tremendous frame that he automatically wins these situations as often as he should, but that's simply not the case.

If Marshall wants to take that next step to becoming a true No. 1 receiver in the NFL, he needs to make more plays like the one he did in Dallas in week four, where he soared over Dallas corner Terence Newman to pluck the ball out of the air at its highest point and evaded numerous tackles to score the game-winning touchdown.

Another thing Marshall lacks is that elite deep speed, which makes it so critical that he becomes better at taking advantage of jump ball situations. Only once has Marshall ever burned the opposing secondary for a touchdown, and that was in 2007 against the Bears, where he truly just outran the corner.

Some may point to his long TDs this year against the Redskins, but a look at the game film will show severe blown coverage, not blazing speed. 

Marshall's playing style most mimics that of New England's Wes Welker, who this season finished with 123 catches, 1,348 yards, 11.0 YPC, and four TDs.

Again, here we see a very similar YPC average, but with a small 5'9", 195-pound frame, this is to be expected. Marshall clearly has the advantage in touchdowns as he is the better red zone target, but otherwise he is nearly identical to Welker as an underneath receiver who routinely makes five-yard receptions and with his athleticism makes the rest of the yardage on his own.

This, however, is not what a team looks for in a No. 1 receiver. A No. 1 receiver should be able to go upfield and snag the deep ball and take the top off a defense. Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans is perhaps the best receiver in the NFL, and he finished the year with an impressive 15.5 YPC average. Randy Moss finished with a 15.2 YPC average and Chad Ochocinco with a 14.5.

When I see Marshall, I see without question the best possession, No. 2 receiver in the NFL. I know this may seem crazy to some, but if you take a look at the pairing of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in Arizona, you see my point.

Fitzgerald is the guy who can fly into the air and pull down some ridiculous catches, which forces the defense to play further back, opening more underneath routes and of course the running game. Then Boldin is the counter-punch; when the defense is forced to back up to respect Fitzgerald, Boldin can get the ball on a short underneath route and abuse the defense with his impressive after the catch abilities.

The problem is that Marshall is so good at this that Denver faces the same problem Arizona is facing with Fitzgerald and Boldin in that they cannot afford to pay two receivers full-time money.

The Bengals faced a similar situation with Chad Ochocinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Chad was the deep threat, and T.J. was the bigger short yardage guy who took advantage of the voids left in the defense. However, as we all saw, the Bengals couldn't afford to keep both, and T.J. left to become a starter in Seattle.

If Denver is to open up their offense, they need to find a true No. 1 receiver somewhere in free agency or the draft and then relegate Marshall to a sort of hybrid slot receiver where he takes advantage of all the underneath routes and hurts the defense with his physical running style.

However, unless Denver can find another No. 1 receiver like Rod Smith who wouldn't be bothered if the No. 2 receiver is paid more than him, I don't see how Denver can afford to keep Marshall and another star receiver.

The way I would deal with this situation is to simply trade Marshall. I know it would be hard to see Denver lose two of its prime offensive threats in their primes, but I think it would be better for the offense.

If the Broncos added a first rounder with Marshall, they could draft Dez Bryant out of Oklahoma State to be their No. 1 receiver. He has the speed to go deep and the frame to win jump ball situations, and then Eddie Royal could be moved back to what he does best and play in the slot.

Head coach Josh McDaniels clearly had problems trying to replicate his offense in New England with Denver's offensive players. He knew Marshall didn't have the speed or jump ball ability to replicate what Randy Moss did, and he appeared to hope Royal and his elite speed could become Denver's deep threat. He then put Marshall in the role of Wes Welker and fed him the ball as much as he could.

However, when defenses began realizing that jamming Royal at the line with press coverage was enough to eliminate him, they were able to creep up and focus their attention on tackling Marshall and stuffing the run game.

Some people will say that Kyle Orton limited our deep passing game this year, but as we saw against Kansas City, Orton had no problem throwing deep when both Marshall and Royal were on the bench. Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Lloyd both had good enough speed to get down field, good enough size to beat press coverage, and good enough ability to take advantage of the ball when it arrived.

I'd also like to note that even with Jay Cutler and his rocket arm, Marshall never averaged over 13.0 YPC as a full-time receiver. He is clearly not suited as a No. 1 receiver and is instead best suited with an unselfish hardworking No. 1 receiver next to him (Derrick Mason in Baltimore?).

This leaves Denver with two options: Either somehow find that ideal unselfish receiver who can take advantage of the deep ball to pair with Marshall, or simply trade him for draft picks, select Dez Bryant in the first round, and then let Eddie Royal assume Marshall's duties in the offense.