The Chicago Bears may be the third team to grow tired of Brandon Marshall’s antics, writes Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks.
Despite signing a new deal to stay with the Bears in April, Banks writes that Marshall could be run out of town after his disappointing 2014 campaign.
It appears to be at that point in the proceedings where Marshall has worn out his welcome in Chicago, much as he did in Denver and Miami before arriving in Chicago in 2012. While it’s not known yet whether the Bears will follow suit and decide less is more when it comes to Marshall and his spotlight-seeking ways, there are rumblings that the new management tandem of head coach John Fox and GM Ryan Pace may see the gifted receiver as more a part of the problem in Chicago than the solution. Last season, Marshall angered some in the organization with his post-game outbursts against teammates, his weekly trip to New York for the taping of Showtime’s Inside the NFL, his occasional dust-ups on Twitter, and his propensity to display a me-first attitude. In other words, he was a lot closer to the diva receiver stereotype than he had been in his first two seasons as a Bear. Marshall signed an extension with Chicago only last April, but his 61 catches for 721 yards and eight touchdowns in an injury-shortened (13 games) 2014 season wasn’t a great early return on his new deal. The Bears could choose to walk away from his $7.5 million base salary this year without owing him any more money if they do so before March 13, taking a $5.6 million cap hit in the process. The decision isn’t really about money, though, it’s about whether or not Marshall’s well-known history may be repeating itself.
Among Marshall’s notable off-the-field moments last season were his on-air argument with an ESPN host and his challenging a Twitter heckler $25,000 to fight him.
