Broncos Bring Brandon Marshall Back

Maybe Brandon Marshall's finally ready to play team-ball in Denver. Or maybe the Broncos have realized exactly how much they need him.

Whatever the case, the disgruntled wide receiver is back with his team -- Sunday, Denver coach Josh McDaniels lifted the suspension imposed on Marshall on August 28 after an outburst at a camp workout.

The Broncos received a one-day exemption from the league, allowing them to keep their roster at 54 briefly. They must get down to the 53-man roster limit by Monday.

The relationship between Marshall and Denver has bordered on implosion multiple times. Marshall requested a trade shortly after the Broncos dealt Jay Cutler to Chicago, left one practice after agitating his surgically repaired hip, held himself out of other workouts to back his trade demands and finally was suspended for his behavior.

All this while the Broncos were trying to adapt to a new coach (McDaniels) and a new quarterback (Kyle Orton).

Denver finished the preseason -- which Marshall played zero games in -- with 1-3 record. But in addition to rising star Eddie Royal, the Broncos may have discovered another competent wide receiver in rookie Kenny McKinley, who posted 16 grabs for 213 yards. With veterans Brandon Stokley and Jabar Gaffney also in tow, the presence of Marshall for the entire season would provide Orton with quite a few targets to fire at.

That is, of course, assuming Marshall is here to stay. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. Denver could still decide that the irritable receiver is doing too much damage in the locker room -- a decision that will be based squarely on Marshall's actions -- or opt to unload Marshall for some sort of reward before he becomes a free agent after the season. At that point, Denver would be forced to let him walk for nothing or franchise him for a massive pay increase (he's set to make just more than $2 million in 2009).

Perhaps the best-case scenario for all involved is for Denver to do what it can to pad Marshall's stats in the first two or three games, then deal him while his value's back on a bit of an uptick.