Brandon Marshall: My View
The Chicago Bears announced today that they will be putting wide receiver Brandon Marshall on the trade block and explore the options that come their way. With an over-inflated market for receivers, it remains to be seen if the Bears, or Marshall, or both, will benefit. So far, people are split in their feelings about Marshall and his ability to still play the game at 31-years old. Some are saying that this is the right move to get rid of a ‘cancer’ in the locker room. Others are saying that Marshall play has significantly dropped over the last season.
I have a different perspective on how I look at the 31-year old receiver. Now, normally this is where I’d pull out the stats to support all of what I am about to tell you, but I am not going to waste your time with the stats, they’re irrelevant at this point. Instead, I am going to break down what I’ve seen in Marshall since he first joined the Chicago Bears three years ago, I was in my second year of covering the Bears. The team was desperate to get a receiver that Jay Cutler could utilize. Brandon Marshall was traded to Chicago from Miami, and the team got their receiver. There was so much speculation that Marshall’s off-the-field problems would continue to cause problems in Chicago. As a result, the national media pretty much wrote him off. Meanwhile, Jay Cutler stood by his former Broncos’ teammate.
The rest of the media who covered the Bears watched Marshall struggle from the beginning, drops began to become frequent. But throughout his first season with the Bears, despite the struggles, Marshall never wavered . . . on or off the field. That was because in 2009, Brandon Marshall was diagnosed with B.P.D. (Borderline Personality Disorder). Instead of letting this become his demise, he let it become his strength. He wanted to become the face of B.P.D. He wanted to become be the voice for people who suffered from mental illnesses so that they could be heard too. Marshall reached out to players who might help. He teamed up with mental health organizations through his charity and he raised awareness and cash for early-detection-programs.
Since Marshall went public with his illness in 2011, it encouraged other players to come forward about their struggles with mental illness — social anxiety (Ricky Williams), depression (Eric Hipple), bipolar disorder (Erik Ainge). Marshall was the first public figure to step up to the plate and be the voice for these people. Marshall’s story defies the easy redemption and recovery narrative that can characterize sports stories about mental illness when the primary victim is the sufferer.
The year after his diagnoses, Marshall did a PSA for B.P.D and founded ‘Project Borderline’ to educate the public about the disorder. He started the ‘Brandon Marshall Foundation’ to raise awareness about broader mental health issues and provide resources to prevention and treatment programs. Marshall even took this to Congress to help push for the Mental Health in Schools Act after handling the first-ever Kennedy Forum, a mental health summit. 
Despite what he has done on the field, I am forever impacted by what Marshall has done off the field. How he has matured from a talented, troubled, wide receiver into a ‘great’ man and leader. He’s given back to the city of Chicago, to the community around the country. Let it be known there is nothing about Marshall that makes him a cancer in the locker room. This isn’t the same Brandon Marshall you read about and watched in Denver and Miami, no this is Brandon Marshall, a voice and activist for the people of the mental health community.
Brandon Marshall came to Chicago immature, and he maybe leaving Chicago with a full grip on life and the realization of what he was put on this earth to do. The people of Chicago should be proud of Marshall. On a personal note, I have to say it was a pleasure covering Brandon Marshall with the Chicago Bears. I enjoyed being able to get to know him and his lovely wife, Michi. Thank you Brandon for all you’ve done.
