The Bengals believe they need a wide receiver.
Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens are two free agents they are considering, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports there have been internal discussions about going a splashier route.
Cincinnati has talked about going after Brandon Marshall. How serious the Bengals will be in their pursuit is a “matter of discussion within the organization.”
The Bengals pick No. 21 overall, but giving that pick up would strongly go against Mike Brown’s history. The Bengals grand poobah has used his first-round pick every year since 1989, and there is great value in contracts that late in the round.
The Seahawks hosted Marshall over the weekend, but it’s unclear if they are willing to give up one of their first round picks to get him. (They own No. 6 and No. 14 overall.)
It remains unclear if there will be competition for Marshall’s services, which this report could be aimed at doing.
The Broncos have taken the position that they will only take a first-round pick for Marshall, as they should. It still would be a stunner if the Bengals were the team to do it.
UPDATE: Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets he believes the report is “mostly a smokescreen” to drive the price up for Marshall.
The Bengals need to make this happen
Please Mike Tannenbaum give up the pick !!
Judging by their abortion of a draft last year, the Broncos would be better off trying to swap Marshall for another player.
On one hand I say DO IT!
On the other hand I say: Come on, not another bad seed.
Brandon Marshall is talent.
Tough choice.
Will the Bengals be able to find another WR as good as Marshall with the 21st pick.
NO WAY!
DO IT!!!
All I am saying is that Carson Palmer is a $125 Million QB.
It would be more stupid NOT to give him targets than it would to keep trying to build through the draft.
The time is now Mike Brown, and if you ever do want to have a Super Bowl team then you might need to sacrifice.
The Defense looks good, now the offense needs some work. Damn MB, bring it all together! You need to take a chance every once in a while!
Don’t be cheap now!
I’d much rather see this signing than TO….
Ocho stinko will never get along with Marshal or T.O. Too many egos and no leadership or championships.
Come on, not another bad seed.
Perfect Fit!!
Tough one. If the Bengals were drafting in their usual spot (top 10) I’d say do the deal. But values at the 21 spot are really incredible. The draft is kind of bass akwards that way. The real winners are usually the guys drafting in the bottom half. Anyone could drop into their laps at that spot, Toby Gerhart, Javid Best, Dez White, even Jimmie Clausen. And they’d have him for relatively cheap (provided he doesn’t pull a Michael Crabtree)
Even if the Bengals do go for the trade they will screw it up just like they did with Shaun Rogers a few years ago. I hate being a Cincy fan…
Bengals confirmed they’re going after marshall. Unfortunately, it’s a federal marshall to keep their players from running over parking meters with drunk 16 year olds in the car.
there is no way the Bengals find a receiver as good as Brandon Marshall at #21, nada!
“The Bengals need to make this happen”
… which means they won’t. With guys like Golden Tate and Are…Arre… “Regis” Benn probably going out in the 16-25 pick range, why would the Brown family change their stripes now. Pun intended.
I just don’t see that tightwad owner Mike Brown paying Marshall what he wants in a contract. Then there is the little problem of Ochostiko’s ego at no longer being the #1 man. This would be a match made in hell.
Laxer37-
It should bother you that you have told a joke that has been repeated 1,000,000 times.
And somehow you still think you are being funny.
Too many stupid posters on PFT.com
@Laxer37
She may have been drunk, she may have been 16 or 17…..But she wasn’t raped was she Douchbag! I think if anyone’s looking for a Federal Marshall to keep players in line, you chumps will be the first in line!
i still don’t understand why this guy still hasn’t gotten a new team yet. he is a top 5 wr and entering the prime of his career. i would think at least 1 out of the 32 teams would go after him.
for any good teams with a 1st round pick, adding brandon marshall to your team would make you an instant super bowl contender.
To you guys that think Chad and Brandon would have issues is ridiculous. Marshall had a great relationship with Chris Henry (R.I.P) and that is why he was seen with a #15 jersey te weekend that Henry passed. But Chad and Brandon are great friends. They are great friends and hung out quite a bit with each other during the beginning of the offseason. I truly believe the Bengals have talked about this but how far the talks have gone, it’s beyond me.
He’s one strike from an NFL mandated one year suspension. Don’t give up too much.
How exactly does feigning competition “drive the price up” for Marshall? We know the price — a first round pick. It’s just a matter of whether anyone will pay it. If they don’t, I think the Broncos keep Marshall.
Rosenthal/Florio
Check out Joe Reedy’s blog: http://twitter.com/joereedy/status/10142608438
It’s a smokescreen– to raise the price for Seattle.
Big Ben “Chester the Molester” is done
The 21st overall pick will not be enough, that is likely why they have not pursued this further. If Cincinnati does want his services it will likely cost the 21st and 85th overall picks. Otherwise the mere interest will likely be enough for Denver to match an offer and then trade him to Seattle who may be on hold to see the value of interest in him. Either way, McDaniels can ill afford to lose face and look to have made a awful trade: AI trade a first round pick for a lesser first round pick along with Marshall for basically second rounder Alphonso Smith.
Ocho Stinko would hate this.
Bungles need a tight end much more than a receiver.
Bronco fan here, even with McDummy at the helm.
Brandon could be one of the best WR to play if he finishes growing up. He’s not a Stinko or TO…yet. It’s a crying shame he will be leaving Denver. It was fun to watch him play, he was a kid in a candy store when he was on the field, smiling and loving it. It seemed like he just wanted to play ball and have fun. I will admit to being a Baby Brandon apologuist, I would rather blame McDunce than Brandon, and it was because Brandon is just one of those guys you hope for the best and root for. You can tell he is a special person and one of the few players that make it fan to be a fan.
I hope he goes to a winning team, and if he goes to Stinko’s team I would just say to Chad, enjoy the humble pie and try to keep up Son.
Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens are two free agents they are considering
————
They will go with Marshall due to his off the field issues.
Carson + OchoCinco + Marshall = DISASTER
Ocho and Marshall will fight to get Carson to like the other one better. Chad will feel threatened for Carson to look Marshall as the new # 1.
Marshall won’t be worth a 1st pick after Denver releases him. No way the guy comes back to Mile High now. We got the Broncos by the short hairs, they gotta move him. How’s a 3rd rounder and a sandwich to be named later sound? Way to manage your team Hoodie Light…again.
lancane,
marshall was tendered at only the first round level. surely the broncos will trade him for a first round pick, as that is all they will get for it.
now’s the time where a team like the colts or saints (31-32 overall pick) should snatch marshall up with a poison pill contract, then trade him to a team like the bengals for a higher pick than they had before.
bottom line, if a team uses a poison pill like tactic, the broncos will be forced to trade him for only a first rounder since they will have no choice in the matter.
Peterson, that’s not true at all. Teams with higher draft picks (i.e. teams that suck more) have priority over the Colts/Saints. So if the teams with better draft picks want him, they could have him.
I don’t like to bust on local writers, but Joe Reedy hasn’t been the most consistent football writer in his short Bengals Beat career.
It wouldn’t quite make sense that the Bengals would or wouldn’t openly discuss whether they’re interested in Marshall — it’s not their style to kiss and tell. So Reedy wants us to believe that Denver and/or Marshall’s agent is/are floating the story to increase the potential interest and contract value for the Broncos/Marshall? And that a reliable Bengal source told Reedy that the Bengals’ alleged interest is BS?
One: there are no reliable Bengal sources — all their dealings go through Mike Brown who is one of the most unreliable football strategists around.
Two: Joe Reedy is the reporter used by the local paper to say nice things and get quotes from players in the locker room. Anything he knows and says coming from the Bengals is the equivalent to what Tokyo Rose used to broadcast from the Pacific.
Bottom line here is that if the Bengals Brass is not talking with and/or about Marshall, they ought to be. You don’t pay a QB $115 million to run your franchise and then surround him with below average roster talent in the throwing game. Signing Terrell Owens or Antonio Bryant would be a similar maneuver to what the team did last year in signing Coles — not saying that these two guys might not be able to produce but rather that it’s unusual to get something for nothing consistently in this league.
The Bengals are in a bad way at the WR spot as a team claiming to “build through the draft” (with their outside scouting advisers consisting of about 2-3 people) but needing to trade a high pick to get a veteran WR pronto. Whatever they do will be inconsistent with the manner in which the team has been managed going back to its infancy under Paul Brown. The Bengals have always been an offensive-minded franchise, currently have a ton of cash invested in its QB and can’t utilize the guy because they don’t have a TE, RB or WR (other than Ochocinco) to target. Very pathetic.
I really dont want the browns to have to face him twice a year along with Boldin, we have enough problems as is, but he is a great player and maybe a new team will get him to grow up a bit and just focus on football. If I am the Bengals I make this happen, but thats just me.
How would they drive up the price? The price is a 1st round pick. either of Seattle’s first round picks are obviously better than Cincinnati’s. I think Marshall is worth it even with his weird attitude. To find a top 5 player at their position in the draft is extremely hard nowadays.
Everyone is talking about the Bengals need targets. The only target that Brandon Marshall will bring to Cincinnati is the target on Ocho’s back when he gets him shoot at the club. Too soon?