Brandon Marshall spent a good portion of last offseason lobbying for the New York Jets to re-sign quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, and he does not think that was a wise idea in hindsight.
On Tuesday, Marshall vowed to stay out of the quarterback conversation and focus on doing his own job heading into the 2017 season.
“I think last year the whole Fitz situation took a lot out of me,” he said, per Brian Costello of 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.”
Had Fitzpatrick not looked like arguably the worst quarterback in football when he eventually ended his contract stalemate and returned, Marshall might feel a little differently. But coming off a year in which his production was essentially cut in half from his phenomenal 2015 season, the 32-year-old receiver realizes his own job may not be safe.
Marshall, who caught just 59 passes for 788 yards and three touchdowns this season, is owed $7.5 million of non-guaranteed salary in 2017. If the Jets decide to rebuild, they may release him.
“I’m under contract,” Marshall said. “That’s what I’ve been going off of since you guys have been talking about all of this stuff. Obviously, it does come up and you think about it, but the way I am approaching it is I’m under contract. I’m good to go.”
It’s tough to tell how much of Marshall’s drop-off had to do with his age and how much had to do with the horrific quarterback situation the Jets had. The latter likely had a far bigger impact, but when you factor in the locker room issues involving Marshall you have to wonder if the team would rather just move on.
