Say this for Brandon Marshall’s new team — it’s near the Showtime studios.
The wide receiver’s pending trade to the Jets frees the Bears of another public discussion about whether Marshall would reprise his hosting role on “Inside the NFL.”
As the show’s first-ever active player host, Marshall flew to New York City on Tuesdays — the Bears’ off days — to shoot the show last season.
After finishing his one-year T.V. contract, Marshall had not yet agreed to return — Showtime has yet to engage their hosts about next season’s plans — but was good enough in his stint that both sides are likely interested in a reprise.
That won’t be the Bears’ problem. Asked about the show in February, new GM Ryan Pace said he wanted to ensure football was “our No. 1 priority moving forward.”
Marshall didn’t regret doing the show, which came with the blessing of former Bears GM Phil Emery and coach Marc Trestman.
“What’s more detrimental: a guy that goes out Friday night, smokes, drinks, do all that stuff, out ’til 4, 5 in the morning?” Marshall said last month. “Or a guy on his day off flying to New York, an hour and a half flight, talking a little football and coming back?”
The hardest part, he said, was the show’s “tough questions” surrounding the Bears’ 5-11 season.
“How do you answer those questions?” he said. “How do you keep those boundaries between, ‘Hey, I’m on television,’ but the No. 1 priority is to keep the team first.”
Email: pfinley@suntimes.com
Twitter: @patrickfinley
