In the wake of the Brandon Marshall trade, there has been a lot of chatter about what the Broncos draft needs are now that he is gone.   The question is not really what players that we need, but what the goals of the system are.  When you look at the current state of the NFL it is a pass happy league.  Articles upon articles have been written about the need to stretch the field.  Defenses like the Jets are loading up on secondary and pass rush.  Teams are changing to the 3-4 defense to try and get to the quarterback faster and confuse coverages.  So in the world of follow the leader, how do you get and advantage.  Easy, change the playing field.

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Throughout this off-season, everything that I have been reading about Brandon Marshall is that he is destined to leave the Broncos.  He can't get along with the coach, his teammates agreed to bench him for the last game, his pain from the death of his friend is too much ( I honestly feel bad about this one).  Now that  free agency is slowing down much of the talk in the media is how the Broncos will have to settle for less than a 1st round pick for him as no one wants to pay that price.  It seems to me that if the Broncos can get good value ( a 1st round pick), then he leaves if not, he stays.  The Broncos gave him a fair opportunity to see what the true market value is for him and only 1 team even brought him in.  If I were Brandon, that would be a big message to me about my future contract status.  I think McDaniels sits him down and says we are not going to put the team in a worse position to satisfy the needs of 1 player.  If Marshall plays hard this year he will be an unrestricted free agent and can do whatever he wants and most likely signs a huge contract.  If he creates trouble for the team, he will again have trouble with finding suitors.   The bottom line is the team is better with him on it if he buys in and there is no reason to settle for a bad trade.  I'm just curious if anyone else feel sthe way that I do.

I know that some people are going to look at the title and think, I'm rehashing that Cutler trade again, but this is not the case.  I was watching the Redskins last night with Clinton Portis and remembered what an important trade partner that they were for us.  If you look at this recent history of trades for the Broncos I doubt that any team has traded more draft picks/players with us that the 'skins.   It goes to show you the fine line between being aggressive with your picks and being smart.

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Did anyone else notice that in the postgame on ESPN when Stuart Scott asked Steve Young what he thought about the Broncos effort all he could talk about was how much talent the Chargers have.  He kept saying " I guess their backs were not up against the wall enough".  I felt that didn't want to give the Broncos any credit for the win and wanted to write it off as the Chargers just putting out a lack of effort.  What really struck me however, was how he appeared angry that the Chargers didn't win the game.  I don't know if Young feels a loyalty to Shannahan/ Bill Walsh from the Niners days, but he seemed emotionally invested the Chargers winning.  Did anyone else notice that or was it just me?

The flip side of it is that the more the team is disrespected the more solidarity that they create.  Now that more people are saying that the team if for real, the negative comments keep it in check. (Not that McDaniels needs anyone else to motivate the team).  Every week they are winning as a team and someone else steps up to make a big play.  I loved in the postgame seeing the smile on Eddie Royal face as he talked about the how the blocks really sprung him and he couldn't have done it without them.  Everyone credits someone else for the things that they are doing well & no one wants the glory for themselves.  This is a team that is easy to love and every week they get better.  Credit the coaches, but also credit the players.  They know that any win is better than a loss with good stats.  

GO BRONCOS!!!!!