Diner Morning News: New York Jets Should Avoid Brandon Marshall

National Football Post

QUOTE: “Success in life is a matter not so much of talent and not so much of opportunity, but rather of concentration and perseverance. The man who succeeds above his fellow man is the man who early in life clearly decides his objective, and towards that objective he directs all of his powers.”—Vince Lombardi, Dayton, Ohio (July 11, 1970)

Vince Lombardi passed away at just 57 years of age.

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the death of Vince Lombardi. His life ended much too soon, but his words, his wisdom and most of all his spirit still live on. The quote above was taken from his last speech, given to a business group in Dayton. Today, we honor his legacy and the enormous value his presence added to the NFL.

Thirteen games are on tap tonight in the NFL, and the clocks in those games will be running down quickly. The main concern is to get the games over as quickly as possible since most veteran players have the night off.

Brandon Marshall to the Jets?

I’ve read many versions of this story, but from the people I’ve talked to with knowledge of the situation, the Broncos really don’t want to trade Brandon Marshall.

In my opinion, if the Jets make this trade, they will destroy their locker room.

Aside from Marshall’s off-the-field behavior, this move would destroy the Jets’ team chemistry, not from a character standpoint but more from a monetary standpoint. Rewarding a player who has been an overt ass by giving him what he wants sends a horrible message to the other players in the locker room.

As my man Matt “I love me some Houston Texans” Bowen wrote Wednesday, until they take care of disgruntled running back Leon Washington, it would be difficult to satisfy Marshall. The Marshall saga in Denver is all about money—do not lose sight of the main root of the problem. Since the Jets have been on a little austerity program—at least that’s what they’re telling Leon’s representatives—it doesn’t seem they can afford both Marshall and Washington.

I know that most fans think the Jets have huge sums of money, but before making that assumption, you might want to ask how many season seats they’ve sold for next year in their new stadium.

Backup QBs

I was talking to someone in the league Wednesday, and neither of us has ever seen so many teams in the NFL searching for answers at backup quarterback. As Mike Smith, the head coach of the Falcons, said about the quality of depth at quarterback, “There are not 32 good starting quarterbacks in the league, let alone backups.” The decline in the talent level of backups has left many teams with huge voids. Even drafting quarterbacks early to develop them as backups hasn't solved the problem. Just ask the Packers.

If Tarvaris Jackson isn't in Minnesota's future, will he land a backup gig in a new city?

Where have all the backup quarterbacks gone? In the past, backups were former starters who had lost some of their skills but could manage a game and potentially start for a period of time, although not over the entire season.

Now, that kind of player is called a franchise savior and comes out of retirement—twice. We won’t go there, I promise.

But really, where have they gone? Joey Harrington is a player who comes to mind, but he’s in New Orleans, and I’m sure if a team made any kind of decent offer, the Saints would move him. Tarvaris Jackson can be had for a song from the Vikings and probably will be released, but how does he help a team now? He will not know the offense unless he’s traded to a team that runs the west coast offense, so if a team that doesn’t run that offense takes him, he won’t be very effective the first month of the season.

Here’s a list of backup quarterbacks I’ve heard are on the market:

PLAYER—TEAM—TRADE VALUE

Joey Harrington—New Orleans—Late-round conditional
A.J. Feeley—Philadelphia—Too many teams remember what happened in Miami,  so his value is not as great; late pick at best
Tyler Thigpen—Kansas City—Not on market now that Cassel is injured
Tarvaris Jackson—Minnesota—Late conditional pick
Jeff Garcia—Oakland—With Charlie Frye and Bruce Gradkowski, the Raiders will entertain an offer
Luke McCown—Tampa—Anything, as they want to dump his salary

The next two days are going to be very interesting. I’m headed to L.A. today to join NFL Network’s Total Access and cover the moves each team makes Friday and Saturday. No Tavern today, but the Diner will be in its usual spot Friday.

Helping youth football

A great event is happening Friday morning in Brooklyn, N.Y. American Youth Football will distribute cleats at 9:30 am on the football field at Poly Prep Country Day School, 9216 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn. Young players from around the league will be on hand to accept the donation. The most recent recipient of AYF’s giving back initiatives, the Big Apple Conference, has 6,000 participants throughout New York's boroughs. For more information, contact Jessica Abramovich, American Youth Football, [phone].

Follow me on Twitter: michaelombardi

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