Bradford mock with trade for Marshall

[Dominating D]

Brandon Marshall was one of the only reasons the Broncos were such a surprise last year. His talent on the field outweighs the slight "character problems" people say he has. Just because he did not want Cutler to leave (who in their right mind would be happy to get Kyle Orton anyway?) does not mean he is TO. Brandon Marshall produces on the field; that is what we need. End of story.

SOO, long story short, I would give a 2nd rounder for Marshall if the monetary implications are fair and logical.

Good Defense did not play a role?

How do you argue with people who just do not get it? Teams just do not give up good talent unless that talent is unhealthy to the team and player is unmanagable.

Marshall off the field issues are much more than his dislike of the FO.

[CanadianRamsFan]

From Rotoworld:

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat's Howard Balzer dismisses a report that the Rams are strongly interested in restricted free agent Brandon Marshall.
Scout.com's Ed Thompson penned a piece claiming the Rams are willing to part with the No. 33 overall pick for Marshall, after picking Sam Bradford first overall. Balzer calls the report "total b.s." This sounds like a case of the Broncos trying to drum up interest in Marshall. Thompson does say "it's become obvious" that no team is willing to give Denver a first-round pick.

Doesn't look like its going to happen guys.

[PeoriaRam]

Marshall has played in all but 3 games since he was drafted 4 years ago and has not missed more then 1 game in a season. The game is football and it takes physical players with great talent to make a difference. Nice guy gets you nowhere in football if you don't have great skills as well. Marshall has great skill and is a top WR in the league. You say the trading for one of the best WR's in the league is like playing Russian Roulette with 5 of 6 in the chamber when he has not missed more then a game in a season. The chances ae not very good for any rookie drafted in the second round being as good as Marshall. Its really gambling when you bet an unproven rookie in the second will be as good as Marshall. The percentages are not in your favor.

Do I need to once again cite his rather lengthy rap sheet and the whole "almost suffered a career ending injury slipping on a McDonald's bag wrestling with family" thing? This is trouble waiting to happen.

[RamsSB99]

Teams just do not give up good talent unless that talent is unhealthy to the team and player is unmanagable.

Do Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Marshall Faulk fit this description? Had we not traded for Faulk we would not have won a Superbowl.

[RamsSB99]

Do I need to once again cite his rather lengthy rap sheet and the whole "almost suffered a career ending injury slipping on a McDonald's bag wrestling with family" thing? This is trouble waiting to happen.

I almost suffered an accident once as well. I bet you almost suffered one as well.

[PeoriaRam]

I almost suffered an accident once as well. I bet you almost suffered one as well.

The full story is he put his fist through a TV screen in the process of slipping, cutting his right forearm, lacerating one artery, one vein, one nerve, two tendons, and three muscles. He was out of commission for 3 months. It is also important to note that even though the accident was in March 2008, his right hand, (merely one of the two most important parts of a wideout's anatomy) was numb the entire 2008 season.

Who knows what happens if those cuts were deeper?

[thickandthin]

Personally I don't like doing mocks with madeup trades.. but it's pretty good, not going to lie.

[Dominating D]

Do Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Marshall Faulk fit this description? Had we not traded for Faulk we would not have won a Superbowl.

I would have to say NO.. How do you know the Rams would not have won a superbowl without Faulk? I would say it would have been less likely but not impossible with Warner, Bruce, Holt, and etc....

[RamsSB99]

The full story is he put his fist through a TV screen in the process of slipping, cutting his right forearm, lacerating one artery, one vein, one nerve, two tendons, and three muscles. He was out of commission for 3 months. It is also important to note that even though the accident was in March 2008, his right hand, (merely one of the two most important parts of a wideout's anatomy) was numb the entire 2008 season.

Who knows what happens if those cuts were deeper?

He wasn't fighting he was messing around. He wasn't doing anything illegal although it may have been a poor choice. All he did was slip and fall in a freak injury when rough housing around. I have been shot before in a freak accident that had it been a little lower it could have killed me. Have you never done anything wrong in your life that could have caused a serious injury?


How old are you? Have you ever had one beer and got behind the wheel of a car?

[RamsSB99]

Teams just do not give up good talent unless that talent is unhealthy to the team and player is unmanagable.

Do Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Marshall Faulk fit this description?

I would have to say NO..

So what you are saying is your first statement was false? Teams sometimes do give up good talent even when that player is not unhealthy to the team or unmanagable.

[PeoriaRam]

He wasn't fighting he was messing around. He wasn't doing anything illegal although it may have been a poor choice. All he did was slip and fall in a freak injury when rough housing around. I have been shot before in a freak accident that had it been a little lower it could have killed me. Have you never done anything wrong in your life that could have caused a serious injury?


How old are you? Have you ever had one beer and got behind the wheel of a car?

This isn't comparable. When you are paid millions of dollars, you should not place yourself in a position where "freak" accidents occur. You shouldn't wrestle with your family period because of the potential for injuries. Much like contract clauses banning athletes from riding motorcycles, you shouldn't rough house out of practice.

When you are paid as much as Marshall is for your physical skills, it is a bad choice to engage in activities outside of the team that could limit your skills, even if you think the risk is "manageable". It is also a bad choice to engage in illegal activity, or to hang around people who engage in it.

And yes, I have driven after having a beer. The difference here is that if I wrapped the car around a telephone pole, it would have happened anyway because I'm a bad driver, not because there's a beer can's worth of alcohol drifting around my 220 pound frame.

[RamsSB99]

This isn't comparable. When you are paid millions of dollars, you should not place yourself in a position where "freak" accidents occur. You shouldn't wrestle with your family period because of the potential for injuries. Much like contract clauses banning athletes from riding motorcycles, you shouldn't rough house out of practice.

When you are paid as much as Marshall is for your physical skills, it is a bad choice to engage in activities outside of the team that could limit your skills, even if you think the risk is "manageable". It is also a bad choice to engage in illegal activity, or to hang around people who engage in it.

And yes, I have driven after having a beer. The difference here is that if I wrapped the car around a telephone pole, it would have happened anyway because I'm a bad driver, not because there's a beer can's worth of alcohol drifting around my 220 pound frame.

One beer will slow your reaction time.

Some players play basketball and do other sports or activities that could injure them or limit their skills. Look at Pujols he did the Major League home run derby and the Shaq vs. Pujols home run derby last year. He already has a bad elbow and IMO it was a poor choice because he could have got hurt. He spent a lot of time doing things that could have jeopardized the team last year. So do you think the St. Louis Cardinals should trade Pujols because he engaged in activities outside the team that could limit his skills. Shaq had his own Reality TV show competing in football, baseball, and other events. All those activities Shaq engaged in outside his team could have limited his skills. I think many people consider Pujols and Shaq as fairly high character type of guy as well.

Do you even know if the rough housing was started by him or some one else and were you there to know how it went down if it was just a spontaneous reaction? The media loves the story because some people buy into it and make a big deal out of nothing. The injury was serious but according to some people these guys should live in a bubble. They are young and they are human it was not a serious character flaw issue IMO. Poor judgment maybe but even high character guys have moments of poor judgment. Marshall has never missed more then one game in his four seasons in the NFL even with this freak injury that I think you can agree will likely not happen again. The chances of the same freak accident happening again are very slim. If you don't like Marshall fine but your reasoning is weak at best if you use this freak injury IMO.

[PeoriaRam]

One beer will slow your reaction time.

Some players play basketball and do other sports or activities that could injure them or limit their skills. Look at Pujols he did the Major League home run derby and the Shaq vs. Pujols home run derby last year. He already has a bad elbow IMO that was a poor choice because he could have got hurt and he spent a lot of time doing things that jeopardized the team last year. So do you think the St. Louis Cardinals should trade Pujols because he engaged in activities outside the team that could limit his skills. Do you even know if the rough housing was started by him or some one else and were you there to know how it went down if it was just a spontaneous reaction? The media loves the story because some people buy into it and make a big deal out of nothing. The injury was serious but according to some people these guys should live in a bubble. They are young and they are human it was not a serious character flaw issue IMO. Poor judjement maybe but even high character guys have moments of poor judgement. Marshall has never missed more then one game in his four seasons in the NFL even with this freak injury that I think you can agree will likely not happen again. The chances of the same freak accident happening again are very slim. If you don't like Marshall fine but your reasoning is weak at best if you use this freak injury IMO.

There's a difference between a microsecond of impairment for a few hours, and the broken bone or damaged muscle that can result from rough housing. I recognize it and I hope you would too.

As for the Pujols example, I'm under the distinct impression he did the derby under pressure from the Cardinals brass, not because he decided to do so on a whim. So his participation was actually in the course of team duties.

The Marshall injury is more like an apple in the cornucopia of bad choices the "legal trouble" section of his wikipedia entry represents.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure the Cavaliers had to sign off on that reality show before they let Shaq participate. And I also think that if he had seriously injured himself, they would have voided that contract in a heartbeat. (Shaq's also kind of this weird case in that the Cavs only really care about having him around when they meat Dwight Howard and the Magic in the playoffs-for the rest of the year it's kind of ehhhh....do your thing.)

[RamsSB99]

There's a difference between a microsecond of impairment for a few hours, and the broken bone or damaged muscle that can result from rough housing. I recognize it and I hope you would too.

Drinking and driving is a decision that is not typically spontaneous where as rough housing is. Drinking and driving is more then just a microsecond of impairment for a few hours ask Leonard Little who has made far worse choices then Marshall has ever made or probably ever will make. Little has killed a person by drinking and driving and many fans still wanted us to resign him or Hall or both. I don't recall a big fan base here saying they didn't want to resign Little the lat time we signed him.

As for the Pujols example, I'm under the distinct impression he did the derby under pressure from the Cardinals brass, not because he decided to do so on a whim. So his participation was actually in the course of team duties.

Did you get this information from your sources? Because I am pretty sure Pujols was the one pressing to do it from the articles I remember reading. His actions where not in the course of team duties. You also failed to mention that Pujols decided to do the reality TV show Shaq vs. Pujols where he took a ton of swings in that home run derby. It was well known that he did because they offered to give money to his charity. That was during the second half of the season. Pujols also finished the year in a big power drought after having did both of those derbys.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure the Cavaliers had to sign off on that reality show before they let Shaq participate. And I also think that if he had seriously injured himself, they would have voided that contract in a heartbeat.

Did this come form your source? Either way it would have hurt his team by doing something that put him at risk.




I just gave you a few examples but there are many more where players that get paid millions live life outside of the bubble you say they should live in when you don't like the player. Many players put themselves at risk of injury and most do it more premeditated then what Marshall did.

[Dominating D]

[/I]

So what you are saying is your first statement was false? Teams sometimes do give up good talent even when that player is not unhealthy to the team or unmanagable.

In the context of young talent like Marshall is for a Wide Reciever.

Youth trumps Old Bulger beat out Warner and most felt his career was over.

Youth trumps Old The Colts felt Faulk was a distration in the locker room and they wanted to go younger and cheaper in the draft.

Cardinals made several attempts to sign Boldin in the last couple of years. They did not come to an agreement. He is reaching the point in his career that his prime years are past him and the nasty hits he has taken puts him at a high risk to sign long term.

So if your looking at Young Talent which none of your examples above were other than Brees who the Chargers had a younger QB they felt was ready to go and Brees was a high risk to sign long term due to major shoulder surgery...