During the 2016 offseason, receiver Brandon Marshall was a broker of sorts for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets, begging the two to get back together.
Once Fitzpatrick started struggling, Marshall took on the role of Titanic captain, assuring the public that everything was fine while the ship was clearly sinking.
A few weeks removed from their miserable season, he has pledged to stay out of team politics in the future should the Jets bring him back.
"I think last year the whole Fitz situation took a lot out of me," Marshall said via The New York Post. "I think that was something that made me realize I need to focus on myself and football. I need to do my job. My job is to be a wide receiver. Going into this offseason, that's all I want to do is be a football player. I'm getting out of the front office department."
Marshall is due almost $8 million this season, which makes him a potential cap casualty. However, as he's said in the past, the number is a relative bargain for a receiver of his caliber. This is especially true given Marshall's style of play, which is not as reliant on speed and quickness and, therefore, does not diminish as quickly with age. The 32-year-old caught 59 balls for 788 yards and three touchdowns this past season after a monstrous 109-catch, 1,502 yard, 10-touchdown season in 2015. His dropoff was due in large part to an injury sustained by No. 2 Eric Decker and a rotating cycle of abhorrent quarterback play.
When asked about his salary, Marshall had plenty to say.
"There's all this talk in the media about what is the organization going to do," Marshall said. "Are they going to rebuild? Will they get rid of vets? When it comes to my situation it's, 'Oh, he's older. He's not good anymore. He's due all this money.'
"I will say that I'm aware the National Football League stands for 'What have you done for me lately'? It's not about what you did the year before. The year before, I did some amazing things, but I think there were a lot of circumstances that made it tough for all of us to perform at a high level. When you look at that, I still know that I am an elite wide receiver, a dominant receiver that demands a lot of attention. For that, there comes a price. That's what I was trying to say. When you look at what I've done for my entire career, I've never been fairly compensated for that. Again, it's not about the money. At this point in my career, it's about winning. But if we're going to continue to have this conversation about money, that's my stance."
If it isn't about the money, perhaps an outright release may be the best thing for Marshall in the long run. He may not want to pick or lobby for a quarterback in New York, but who would given how underwhelming the choices are going to be?
