Before I went to bed last night I was pulling my hair out contemplating between WR Arrelious Benn (Illinois), DE Eversen Griffen (USC) and DE/LB Ricky Sapp (Clemson) with Miami’s 2nd Rd. selection (#43 overall) in the iSportsweb.com Mock Draft. I went to bed completely satisfied with my selection including scientific rationale and a laundry list of justifiable reasoning that would support the relevance and genius of my selection to be used as a verbal “Ha Ha! I told you so” defense against the inevitable backlash from Dolfans with differing opinions. Damn it, why can’t the hot tub time machine be real? Imagine if it were though, we wouldn’t be in love with Chad Henne because Drew Brees would be our quarterback, the Saints still wouldn’t have marched on Bourbon Street and we would have nothing but love for Ted Ginn Jr. because he would be someone else’s problem.
I awoke to a barrage of ambiguous text messages like “Wow! MARSHALL!” “Marshall! Can you believe it?” “How do you feel about the train wreck?” I was clueless but my first reaction was “Oh my God, Marshall University just suffered another tragedy reminiscent of the tragic 1970 plane crash!” Simultaneously I turned on ESPN and there in red was the “Breaking News” bold type crawling across the bottom line reading that the Denver Broncos traded Brandon Marshall to the Miami Dolphins for their 2nd round pick in next weeks draft and what is believed to be their 2nd round pick in next years draft. Marshall (the player) agreed to a four-year, $47.5 million contract extension, which includes $24 million in guaranteed money. Assuming he passes his physical the deal makes him the highest-paid receiver in NFL history… allegedly.
A nano-second after reading the news I was overwhelmed with a bevy of emotions that hit me so fast and so hard I can’t be sure in which order they came but if memory serves me I believe it went something like “YES! We are legitimate contenders!”… “Thank God the Marshall Football team is okay!”… “Oh CRAP! I just drafted Arrelious Benn and this completely destroys my mock draft!” Good thing I passed on WR Dez Bryant (OSU) at #12 or we would have just had to completely disregard the importance and validity of this mock altogether as if it doesn’t even matter.
Now that the smoke has settled as much as it’s going to in my brainpan and I sit back and really let it resonate that we just acquired Brandon Marshall I realize the reason I’m so taken aback. We are back! No more excuses, no more rebuilding, no more “one year away” conversations, no more “too old” or “too young” remarks, no more “only if we had a quarterback”, no more “what if’s”. This deal shows the Dolphins are committed to winning now and in the future. It shows that Bill Parcells will take risks, that improving the offense is priority and it also shows that the organization truly believes that they are thisclose to being a legitimate Championship contender.
Make no mistake about it, Marshall was expensive. By no means did Miami steal him from Denver. The Broncos were compensated very well with two 2nd round picks not to mention the financial and psychological burden that left the moment he boarded the plane. The Broncos got exactly what they wanted, if not more, and it’s a huge step in moving the direction they want to go. Conversely, it was well worth the price to the Dolphins by instantly adding one of the biggest offensive threats at his position in the entire league and plugging the most glaring hole on the team in one move. Miami literally went from an uninspiring stagnant offense to lethal from anywhere on the field over night. The addition of Marshall has a ripple effect that will pay positive consequences for every other player and unit offensively, which eases the pressure on the defensive side of the ball as well as directly affecting coaching decisions, play calls and even special teams as it pertains the field position game.
He will demand double teams the majority of the time opening running lanes, making reads for Chad Henne much less challenging, stressing the defense and putting backs and Davone Bess and Brian Hartline in favorable underneath matchups. The sky is the limit offensively from this day forward in Miami provided Marshall shows up on the field to play football and not on South Beach to play “the field.”
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