The Brandon Marshall Plot Thickens

If it hasn't already happened, at some point very soon the Broncos are going to reach a point where their impasse with Brandon Marshall is going to impact on their ability to concentrate on football. Monday offered a pair of reminders of that fact.

First came Marshall's renewed request for a new contract, which was denied, and renewed request for a trade, which was also denied. Then came a report from Jason La Canfora of NFL.com that had the Broncos retreating from the actions of a junior PR staffer after Marshall was acquitted on charges of battery on Friday.

Per the report, Broncos COO Joe Ellis apologized to Marshall because the PR person instructed players not to express any happiness that Marshall was found not guilty.

Ellis and the Broncos maintain that these were the actions of a lone staff member and did not reflect the feelings of the organization, but Marshall doesn't buy that explanation. He's got good reason not to believe it, unless the team has fired the PR person and, perhaps, their boss. Businesses that run on the whims of junior staffers don't tend to stay in business for very long, after all.

Marshall already has questioned the competence of the team's medical staff, and now he has a reason to distrust other factions in management. The Broncos, for their part, have been embarrassed by Marshall because of off-field issues in the past, and his unwillingness to buy into what Josh McDaniels is selling makes it impossible to count on him over the long term.

So both sides have legitimate gripes and both sides have dug in their heels for a long, bloody fight with the result being that both of them lose. Marshall is allowing himself to be painted as a malcontent and, possibly, a malingerer who won't just show up to do his job and let the money come later. The Broncos look like an organization with no direction and have their most capable offensive player on the sidelines when they desperately need him to help them score some points.

You know what, we've already reached that point where no one is concentrating on football.