Brandon Marshall to Return to Showtime's Inside the NFL

A change of teams hasn't done anything to alter Brandon Marshall's budding television career. The New York Jets receiver will return for a second season on Showtime's Inside the NFL program in 2015, according to a formal announcement released by the network Tuesday.  

Kristian Dyer of Metro New York passed along the news. For the most part, Marshall's return to the program was a formality. The 31-year-old said earlier this summer he and the team had already discussed him continuing on the program, which was ultimately made easier by his move to New York, per Seth Walder of the New York Daily News: “Oh yeah, we already decided that. I’ll be on ‘Inside the NFL.’ Pretty much a local show now, right? Last year, took a chance and traveled a little bit on my off day. And now it’s easy. It’s going to be 10 minutes from my house.”

Last season, Marshall traveled from Chicago to the tapings in New York City. Because of his fortuitous trade to the Jets, there will be no lengthy travel required this season.

With the Bears struggling for much of 2014, Marshall's TV side job became a major talking point in Chicago. Numerous analysts criticized him for putting the gig over what could have been an actual rest day or time to build additional rapport with teammates. 

Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner was one of Marshall's critics, per the NFL Network (via Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune):

"

The bigger issue here I believe is he goes into the locker room and he calls people out or calls the team out and says this is unacceptable. And then you know what everybody is going to say; ‘He’s going to get on a plane and fly to New York and do his TV show.’ You’re going to go, ‘If this is a team issue, why aren’t you here on our days off? Why aren’t we meeting together? Why aren’t we figuring out what we need to do to fix this problem?’ You have to make the team first right?

"

Marshall finished 2014 with 61 receptions for 721 yards and eight touchdowns, with the former two statistics being his worst since his rookie season. 

Despite the criticism, Marshall did a fine job on Inside the NFL last season as an analyst, bringing a rare active-player perspective. He has become one of the league's most interesting athletes with his mental health advocacy, and it's clear he has a future in broadcasting once his playing career is over.

If the Jets are fine with it (and it appears they are), there is no real reason for criticism here. We'll have to see whether Marshall's additional comfort and less stringent travel schedule leads to some extra airtime in his second go around.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.