Jun 24th 2008 11:00AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Raiders, AFC West, Denver, OaklandThere’s definitely a lot we still don’t know about what led up to Javon Walker getting beaten up in Las Vegas early last week. His story about a random group of thugs accosting him seems fishy, to say the least, in light of his champagne spraying in the Body English nightclub earlier in the evening. Not knowing exactly what happened, however, doesn’t mean we can just assume a course of events.

Norm Clarke, an eyepatch-wearing columnist for the , is doing just that however in part of a column titled Latest Walker Twists.
And just when the story couldn’t get any weirder — on second thought, the hunch here is that it’s going to get much wilder — Walker’s former Denver Broncos teammate Brandon Marshall showed up Friday at Tryst.
Clarke then mentions Marshall’s role in the fracas that preceded Darrent Williams’s murder in Denver last year. What Clarke doesn’t deem worthy of mention is that there’s no evidence placing Marshall with Walker at Body English nor any apparent connection between Marshall visiting a different club in the same city and what went down with Walker.

I fail to see how this makes the Walker story any weirder. Thousands of people went to clubs in Vegas on Friday night, are all of them somehow culpable in whatever befell Walker?

Jun 25th 2008 9:20AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, AFC West, Denver, NFL Police BlotterYesterday Brandon Marshall got himself dragged into an unsavory situation thanks to shoddy journalism. Today he’s there because of his own actions. The , via , reports this morning that the Bronco receiver was arrested for misdemeanor battery in Atlanta on March 6th after a complaint from his girlfriend.
Rasheedah Watley, 24, filed an affidavit in Fulton County Magistrate Court on March 5 claiming that a day earlier Marshall hit her in the mouth and left eye, leaving her with, according to the criminal warrant, “visible marks above the eye and a laceration on her top and bottom lip. It was the third arrest in less than a year for Marshall, the second for domestic violence and he’s had a couple of other instances where charges weren’t filed. No formal charges have been filed yet in this case, either. The arrest came 16 days before Marshall badly injured his arm in the McDonald’s bag slip/wrestling match with his brother.

Marshall could face discipline from the league under the Personal Conduct Policy. The trifecta in one year would not work in his favor, and could face more of an issue if the arrests were concealed. Pacman Jones got in more trouble by hiding his run-ins with the law from the NFL. A spokesman for the NFL said they are looking into the arrest right now but didn’t indicate when the league was made aware of it.Continue Reading

Jun 26th 2008 12:10PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, AFC West, Denver, NFL Police BlotterWe’re still waiting for any fallout from the revelation that Brandon Marshall was arrested for the third time in 12 months in March but Marshall is going on the offensive against his accuser. He claims that Rasheedah Watley was trying to extort money and a car from him in exchange for keeping their affairs out of a courtroom. Her attorney emailed Harvey Steinberg, attorney for Marshall, and Steinberg provided details of the email to the .
More than a year later, in an e-mail to Steinberg, O’Marra maintained that Marshall had offered to put Watley up in a furnished apartment for a year, get her a car comparable to her former BMW 645 and put $30,000 in her checking account, and that a settlement of $150,000 would be accepted. Five days later, that figure had shrunk to $100,000.
That was more than a year after a previous domestic violence charge against Marshall. When he refused to comply, Steinberg claims that the most recent charges, which he calls “unfounded,” came to light. He also said the March incident was a figment of the imagination.

It’s hard to believe that assertion. The reports that when police were summoned to Marshall’s home on March 4th, they found the receiver bleeding from a cut on his hand. Watley claims that Marshall found a text message from another man on her phone and beat her as a result.Continue Reading

Jun 27th 2008 9:45AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, AFC West, Denver, NFL Police BlotterYesterday we brought you some of the conflicting stories concerning Brandon Marshall’s March arrest for domestic violence. Marshall’s denials ranged from the abject to the vague but overriding the whole thing was his assertion that he was the victim of a shakedown attempt and not a serial batterer of women.

Now, the attorney for Marshall’s former girlfriend has fired back at the Bronco receiver.
“His story that he has been a victim is as pathetic as the story that he slipped on a McDonald’s bag and injured his arm,” David McGill, one of the two attorneys representing Rasheedah Watley, said Thursday night. “Hopefully, he will be as eager to tell his story in a court of law, under oath, as he has been in the media.”
McGill also contradicted any notion that there was no physical abuse by saying that there was physical evidence to prove that part of his case. Marshall maintains that the only physical interaction was when Watley’s sisters attacked him, causing a cut on his hand noted by police on the night in question.

In the , Bernie Lincicome argues that it might be time for the Broncos to prepare a way out for Marshall.

Nothing he has done on the field or off the field would indicate he is more trouble than he is worth. Yet.
I think on the field trumps off the field in the NFL, which is why, short of a case of Pacman fever, Marshall will be with the Broncos this season.

Jun 29th 2008 12:37PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Denver, NFL Police BlotterEveryone who follows the NFL knows that Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall can’t stay out of trouble. But a Denver Post investigation reveals that Marshall’s problems go beyond just his two arrests last year and his one this year.

For starters, police were called to domestic disputes between Marshall and his girlfriend three times in three months in 2007. In all three cases, the woman said Marshall punched her. Police made no arrests in any of the incidents.

His girlfriend’s friend also told police that Marshall hit her car with his while the girlfriend was a passenger, then threw a rock at the car. Marshall wasn’t arrested in that incident, either.

Marshall has also been charged with crimes including retail theft to assault on an officer, and his own father once told police Marshall shot a gun during an argument they had in a parking lot.

Looking at the totality of Marshall’s rap sheet, it’s reminiscent of Adam “Pacman” Jones: No individual incident was serious enough to put him behind bars, but the cumulative effect is likely enough for a lengthy suspension from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Via PFT.

Jul 4th 2008 10:23AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, NFL Draft, Denver, Arena FootballMarcus Nash was the Denver Broncos’ first-round draft pick out of Tennessee in 1998, and while Nash was productive in college, the Broncos quickly learned that his college quarterback, Peyton Manning, could make any receiver look good. Nash was a bust in the NFL.

But he has caught on in Arena Football, where 2008 was his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season.

Unfortunately, it will also apparently be his last. The Dallas Morning News reports that Nash, playing for the Dallas Desperados, underwent surgery this week to repair a broken neck suffered in last week’s playoff loss to New York. According to the paper, Desperados coach Will McClay said the injury could end Nash’s career.
Nash finished his NFL career with four catches. He was Arena Football’s offensive player of the year in 2004.

Via PFT.

Jul 10th 2008 6:25AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: BroncosYesterday we noted that former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry, who made $2.5 million in three years, is now totally broke at the age of 25.

So today let’s talk about a player who sounds like he’s got the complete opposite approach to money: Broncos rookie linebacker Spencer Larsen, a sixth-round draft pick who got a $97,500 signing bonus. Larsen was asked how he planned to spend that money: A car? Jewelry? A party in Vegas? Nope:

“We don’t have any big needs, so we’ll just save it,” Larsen said. “It’s more money than we’ve ever been around.”

Larsen, who is married and has a kid and sounds like he’s got a level head, would make a good speaker at next year’s Rookie Symposium.

Jul 11th 2008 10:50AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, AFC WestEarlier this offseason Mike Shanahan cut Travis Henry from the Denver Broncos because he felt the running back wasn’t showing the necessary commitment to team and football. The team also jettisoned such questionable characters as Todd Sauerbrun and Javon Walker while spending a lot of time talking about high character football players.

All of which brings us to Brandon Marshall. He’s piled up catches since joining the Broncos but also racking up off-field incidents which make you wonder about his character and commitment at the same time. The kinds of incidents that would be red flags to a coach like Shanahan. He didn’t espouse any bad feelings to the , though.
“I can’t go into great detail, for obvious reasons, but Brandon has a good upside and he’s a real good kid. I feel very good where Brandon’s at. I think he’ll be fine.”
Shanahan also pointed out that Marshall continually has problems with the same woman, none of which have led to convictions in court. Which seems to indicate that he’s convinced she’s lying or that Marshall’s goodness is somehow unsullied by hitting this particular woman. I’d guess the former but Marshall’s lying about how he injured his arm doesn’t seem to bother the coach so we can’t be sure.

The NFL is still investigating and deciding if it will discipline Marshall but I’d be surprised if they didn’t. While the domestic violence allegations have remained just that, the DUI is likely enough to cause the league to take action.

Jul 11th 2008 11:40AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, AFC WestEarlier today, we shared Mike Shanahan’s belief that Brandon Marshall was a “real good kid” despite a string of incidents that would have you thinking the opposite. Shanahan’s comments would seem to serve as the team’s party line on Marshall except for the fact that Jay Cutler keeps on making a point to call Marshall on the carpet for falling short of his expectations.

After Marshall injured his arm and lied about how it happened, Cutler said Marshall was not “his favorite person” because “it was always something with him.” Now after the revelation of another domestic violence arrest and a relatively innocuous traffic stop, Cutler’s reiterating his doubts about Marshall.
“Once or twice - you could live with that. You say people make mistakes, but I mean it’s been three, four, five times. I don’t know how many times he’s at right now, so I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t know if Mike’s going to do anything. I don’t know if the league’s going to do anything. I just hope he gets his act together, cause it’d be a shame for him to waste all that talent.”
I’m not sure how Marshall feels but the rest of the Broncos should be happy to read that quote. Team leaders hold the other players accountable for their actions, on and off the field, especially when the latter can affect his availability and, therefore, the team’s chances at success.

Jul 11th 2008 12:05PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, NFL Rumors
There are a handful of teams that could use an extra pair of legs in the backfield for the 2008 season. Whenever those teams are being discussed, Travis Henry’s name comes up as an unemployed runner who could potentially help them. That won’t be happening anymore.

Fox 31 in Denver is reporting that Henry has failed a drug test. The drug is believed to be marijuana and Henry faces a one-year suspension from the NFL as a repeat offender of the substance abuse program.

If you feel yourself being taken over by a feeling of deja vu, there’s good reason. For most of last season Henry fought a positive marijuana test and ultimately won his appeal, thereby avoiding the year off from football. After sticking up for him through that battle, Bronco coach Mike Shanahan cut Henry last month because he felt Henry couldn’t be counted on by the team.

Neither Henry nor his agent could be reached for comment and the NFL said they only comment on suspensions not on reports about drug tests.

Via .