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You can say it doesn’t matter.
You can say that players should not have a say.
But if you want to deal with reality, in this case, it does matter.
To act like Brandon Marshall’s feelings don’t matter, vis-à-vis Ryan Fitzpatrick’s future with the Jets, is being a shortsighted.
Marshall is a great player, perhaps the Jets’ most talented performer.
He finished last season with 109 catches and 14 touchdowns. He broke the team record for receiving yards in a season. His 2015 season was a tour-de-force.
On top of being an outstanding player, Marshall is a very emotional, passionate man.
Despite having rare talent, the Jets are his fourth team in 10 years.
Sometimes his emotions get the best of him, and that has contributed to him changing teams so often. He had two volcanic explosions in 2015 while with the Chicago Bears, resulting in a pair of heated arguments, one with kicker Robbie Gould, and other with assistant coach Chris Harris.
He’s in a good place right now. Hopefully, for his sake, he stays there.
He loves playing for the Jets and loves the quarterback he played with last year.
If the Jets fail to re-sign that quarterback, he is going to be pissed.
He made that pretty clear yesterday.
Asked if he thought Fitzpatrick would be back, Marshall replied: “He better be,” via Newsday.
In other words, if you let Fitz go, your star receivers is going to be livid.
Look, I understand it’s never a great idea to let players have a vote in personnel decisions.
Players play, coaches coach and general managers find the players.
I get that.
But in this case, they better be cognizant of Marshall’s feelings.
I’m dead serious.
If they let Fitz go, I think Marshall will go apoplectic.
I’m not being overly-dramatic. I think this will be a big problem for the Jets.
I asked Bowles about this in Boca Raton a couple of weeks ago.
Many of you have seen this quote. I asked Bowles if he’s worried about Marshall’s mindset if Fitzpatrick doesn’t come back.
“My son wants certain things, too, that his dad says no to,” Bowles said laughing. “And it really doesn’t matter, so I understand.
“I love Brandon to death, and he’s a good player. That’s all I can tell you. He doesn’t factor into making the decisions on this team.”
He should factor in.
I understand this isn’t the NBA where the star players basically run their teams.
But in this case, Marshall’s psyche needs to come into play.
Do you want to really mess up Marshall, and let Fitzpatrick leave?
Marshall hasn’t had many quarterbacks in the NFL that he’s loved.
He loves Fitzpatrick.
They work so well together.
They got on the same page amazingly fast last year. It was almost like they were in their fifth year playing together, not their first.
As a coach, you need to have a good feel for the thinking of all your players. That is what made Bill Parcells so great.
Bowles has to know that taking Fitzpatrick out of the picture is going to put his star receiver in a bad place.
And if he doesn’t, he should.
April 6, 2016
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