Brandon Marshall. When you hear that name, you think of everything negative affiliated with him. He’s considered to be cancerous in the locker room, he puts himself before the team and he’s arrogant. Some have even given him the nickname “baby T.O.” because he’s made a lot of comparisons to Terrell Owens as a receiver and issues with his attitude. He’s also been considered to be a top-five wide receiver at one point, some would even say top three and for good reason because he’s a gifted athlete. Last week, the New York Jets released the veteran wide receiver and though he’s getting up there in age, there are many teams that I feel would benefit greatly from his services. The New York Giants won the Marshall sweepstakes and signed him to a two-year deal.
He may not be that elite guy that he once was, but he’s still a top 15 wide receiver in the game today. He’s a 6’4 receiver that’s as versatile as they come. He stretches the field vertically, he can run his routes over the middle with consistency and once the football is in his hands, he moves as if he’s a slot receiver to shift into open space. He can run a defender over and he doesn’t wait for the ball to come to him, he’ll go up and grab it along with taking it away from the defender and he’s fearless. He doesn’t mind going over the middle of the field and he also has one of the best stiff arms I’ve ever seen a receiver possess.
This is a nice signing for the Giants. Over these last two seasons, I was very vocal about the Giants having a receiver to take enormous amounts of pressure off Odell Beckham and now, they have just that. As a defender, you worry about limiting Odell then, you have to worry about taking away Brandon Marshall as well. They have a nice trio of receivers now for Eli Manning to get the ball too. Odell is a top three receiver, Marshall is still a top 15 receiver and Sterling Shepard will now work the slot. That’s a scary group to face.
