Last Year's Target: Brandon Marshall
by Sander on May 13, 2011 12:00 PM EDT
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Last year the Buccaneers had a lot more holes than they did this year, and before the draft the Bucs had plenty of opportunities to improve their team. Brandon Marshall was one of the players the Bucs could have targeted to fill one of those holes, but instead the star receiver went to the Miami Dolphins for two second-round draft picks. The Bucs were left without a star wide receiver and would have to turn to the draft to get those. Of course, they then drafted Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams, and no one is complaining about their performance.
Meanwhile in Miami Brandon Marshall has played well, catching 86 passes for 1,014 yards and 3 touchdowns in his first season with the team, while missing two games because of injury. And he did that with Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen and about two seconds of Chad Pennington at quarterback. He certainly would've added something to the Bucs' offense had he been here. Brandon Marshall is one of the best receivers in football, and based on his play he's certainly worth two second-round picks.
There were some valid reasons why the Bucs never traded for him, though. Brandon Marshall is a hard worker who has always performed in his short career, but he's also had several off-field incidents and left Denver because he couldn't get along with the head coach. He had a reputation for being a diva, as do many receivers, and he could have been a bad influence in the locker room.
But more than that, the Bucs would have had to give up two second-rounders themselves, and they were trying to build through the draft. The Bucs used those two second-rounders to select Arrelious Benn and Da'Quan Bowers in the past two rounds. Arrelious Benn got off to a slow to start in his rookie year and is now rehabbing from a torn ACL, but he showed a lot of promise late in his rookie season. Da'Quan Bowers is another injury risk, but he's supremely talented.
So looking back at the 2010 offseason, did the Bucs do the right thing in passing on Brandon Marshall? Would you rather have Da'Quan Bowers and Arrelious Benn than the Dolphins wide receiver?
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i voted regis and da'quan
I think they will contribute more than just one player but BM is a stud wide out and him and mike williams would have been a tough duo to cover, not to mention K2 ! but i still take the two second rounders, Mike williams will produce just as well as BM will and maybe da’quan will have a succesful career here too
Fun question...
I thought it wouldn’t be as much of a landslide….I voted for Marshall and seem to be in the minority. While I don’t think we are bad off with Bowers and Benn, Marshall is a rare talent we could have had at a reasonable price. If Bowers doesn’t amount to much then the deal would have been Benn for Marshall, and no offense to Benn because I hope he is great, that deal is a no-brainer.
"No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one
time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging
well over the brink of failure."
-Napoleon Hill
It is easy to ask this question in retrospect...
but last year, when we had no real receiving threat, WR Brandon Marshall would have been a godsend.
Now ask me if I would prefer WR Brandon Marshall and whoever we would have ended up taking with our 2nd Rounder last year, and you’d get a different answer. Benn is promising, but still a question mark.
It all depends on Bowers
This is a question that can’t truly be answered until we find out what we have in Bowers. If Bowers goes on to have a successfull Bucs career, then it is an easy choice to say Benn and Bowers are the better choices. However, if Bowers ends up being a bust, and the only person left to compare there is Benn, then BMarsh would have been a much better option. He is far more athletic and powerful then Benn, and is one of those rare talents that can change a game on just about any play.
The other thing to look at is BMarsh’s off-the-field issues, and you have to wonder how those will effect him in the future as well. Those troubles could also be a deciding factor in this debate, because if they continue it’s only a matter of time before he’s suspended for a good length of time. From what little information we have about Benn and Bowers, they seem like good kids that will stay out of trouble, so they’ve got a definate advantage there.
Based on the play of the 2010 Bucs...
one COULD make the argument that the combination of Freeman, Williams, Blount AND Brandon Marshall COULD have been enough to make a playoff game or two.
Marshall playing WR here may have given us one more win…
by Cracker Ball on May 13, 2011 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions
That’s entirely possible Cracker. BMarsh is fully capable of changing a game, and with him lining up opposite of Mike Williams most teams would have difficulty covering both of them. The difference could have been enough to win some of the closer games we lost.
Still, if Bowers turns into a stud I will gladly sacrifice a trip to the playoffs for a decent pass-rush over the next several years. Our inability to put the pressure on opposing QBs killed us.
Your first paragraph
is like my response…haha…I was thinking when I read it, man I read this somewhere…LOL
"No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one
time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging
well over the brink of failure."
-Napoleon Hill
Benn and Bowers, no matter what happens from here on.
Not speculating on whether Benn will recover from the knee injury and play at a high level or whether Bowers will ever play a down in the NFL. Brandon Marshall was absolutely wrong for our team. His history of off field incidences, and now continuing off field incidence, shows me for sure that he would be another headache this team can definitely do without. I don’t care about his talent, or how good he is on the field. We don’t need another Aqib Talib on this team to cause even more distraction than is already there. Keeping our 2nd round picks and getting Bowers and Benn was worth more in the limited production that we’ve already gotten from Benn alone. Heck, he had 2 TDs, which is almost as good as Marshall’s 3 from last year. And that was in limited action. And being allowed to “take a flyer” on Bowers in round 2 means that it doesn’t matter if he succeeds or not, we had the pick to take the chance. All because we passed on Marshall and got Benn.
Tough to say for sure...
because Brandon Marshall and Mike Williams together could terrorize most teams DBs. Based on the potential targets Freeman would have had, I believe we would have reached the playoffs based on exactly what happened last season – with Marshall as an additional target.
by Cracker Ball on May 13, 2011 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Marshall is a Diva WR.
Just think Bryant with more talent. I follow the Dolphins too and when things went bad he threw his QB and coach under the bus. I do not think his attitude would have helped the Buc’s build confidence. Having Benn is better for Freeman’s development. Now maybe after a good year Freeman has the confidence to deal with a player like Marshall but coming off 3-13 it would have been a bad idea.
Off field issues are a legit concern since he was the target of a drive by back in Denver that got a team mate killed and this off-season his wife stabbed him.
We may not agree on this one...
because I think winning builds confidence. Marshall would give Freeman that confidence by knowing if he can throw the ball within a 10 foot radius of Marshall, he will battle for the ball and come away with it.
That may be something Freeman has never seen before.
by Cracker Ball on May 14, 2011 9:27 AM EDT up reply actions
It kind of a battle between skill and attitude.
If he was a better person it would make this a lot easier choice.
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