CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN
Brandon Marshall tells News his troublesome days are in past as he begins new life with Jets
BRANDON Marshall stopped trying to outrun his past long ago. He arrived six months ago with questions that have trailed him for the better part of a decade. Why should we trust you? How can we believe you? Have you changed at all? Marshall has made mistakes that he’ll live with forever, but he should be proud of the man he’s become.
Nobody in this life is perfect. For all his natural talent, the Jets wide receiver has been traded three times due to concerns that have little to do with catching a football.
“It’s hard to change perceptions,” Marshall told the Daily News in a candid interview in the runup to the season opener against the Browns on Sunday. “That’s how life is. When you have a past, your leash is shorter, so you can’t afford one slipup. It could be an innocent slip-up. Even though I’m not getting arrested, if I do something that is edgy ... it goes all the way left because of my past and the perception of me.”
Today is more important than yesterday. No matter how many times Marshall has been branded a malcontent or headache, the promise of tomorrow fuels him to achieve a more impactful goal.
The sport that he’s played since he was 6 has a renewed purpose with a new endgame. It has become a platform to something much more meaningful in his life. The stereotypes that stung Marshall as a younger man have dulled.
“It kind of scars you a little bit when you’re dealing with certain things that hurt you,” Todd Bowles said about the negative perceptions of Marshall. “You have to grow up and move past it. If you sit there and pout over it and throw stones all the time, you can never be that true complete player. So you got to let it go.”
A discovery five years ago set Marshall on the path that he was meant to travel.
lll Marshall’s combustible years in Denver opened the door for a watershed moment in Miami. It changed his life. It might have saved it, too.
When Marshall revealed in the summer of 2011 that he was ready to make significant changes after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), a mental illness that creates fluctuations in mood and fractures relationships, the public response was predictable: Seeing is believing. Marshall and his wife, Michi, founded Project 375 (www.project375.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating the stigma attached to mental illness and disorders. He embraced the responsibility. It gave him direction and fulfillment, marrying two important facets of his life.
“This is going to sound really weird to people that may read this,” Marshall said. “Before I had this awakening, I played the game because I loved it. I played the game for myself and some people that wanted to take care of my family. That’s normal. It’s typical. But I feel that we’re all here for the same reason. I feel like we’re supposed to leave this world a better place. I feel that we’re supposed to be a vessel to help other people. I truly believe that.”
He found his way during a three-month outpatient program at McLean Hospital near Boston, working with Harvard professors and students. He found a clarity and purpose that had been missing.
Marshall braced for the criticism from those who still viewed him as the troublemaker with a pair of arrests linked to domestic violence/domestic disputes (the charges were dropped) and a DUI in the first few years of his career. The NFL issued a three-game suspension in 2008 (reduced to one on appeal) for his off-field transgressions.
Marshall knew that it would take time for others to believe. For the first time in a long time, everything made sense. He learned that his athletic gifts could help in ways that he never imagined. He could make a difference beyond touchdowns, but touchdowns would help his cause. He would say it over and over in the next few years: Football became his platform, not his purpose.
Marshall’s burgeoning television career has provided another avenue to have a relevant voice. He created a stir this week on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” by suggesting that the league’s disciplinary process might be influenced by race. He won’t stop sharing his opinions. “I don’t think that I was created to just play football,” Marshall said. “I don’t think that defines me. I don’t think that’s why God blessed me with the size — 6-5, 230 pounds, can run, can catch the ball. (Some) guys score touchdowns and they point at the back of their jersey like it’s me, me, me. … That’s not what it’s about. I feel like I have all of that because I can impact the guys around me and a community and the world.”
Bowles didn’t sugarcoat his feelings to general manager Mike Maccagnan before the Jets traded with the Bears for Marshall in March. The coach witnessed all sides of the player during their two years together in Miami.
“Yes, he was a hothead,” Bowles said. “He had a switch that flipped and could go the other way and go way off the reservation, but over the years, he’s grown. He’s grown into a very successful professional player. He’s grown from a mental level and become a leader by example.”
Marshall’s skill set has never been questioned. The five-time Pro Bowler had topped 1,000 receiving yards for seven consecutive seasons before an injury-marred 2014 campaign. Even at 31, he provides the Jets with a bona fide difference-making option that has been missing for years. His new teammates didn’t judge him upon his arrival.
“The worst thing you can do is lock something in your mind that you don’t have honest evidence about,” veteran offensive lineman Willie Colon said.
Marshall has been engaged and encouraging in his new home. He’s embraced a mentorship role and become a leader.
“You give everybody a chance to prove themselves,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “I think that’s one of the important things in the league, because so much of a guy’s reputation is public perception. You just start clean and figure out what kind of guy he is from the
daily conversations and daily actions. He’s
been nothing but a great teammate.”
When and where will it end? Marshall knows he can’t play forever, but his body isn’t giving him not-so-gentle reminders that it’s time to drift into the sunset. He’s still fit. His mind is as sharp as ever. He’s on a Hall of Fame track.
Marshall is wise enough not to spread himself too thin on the field, so he focuses on perfecting elements of his game that he already does well. If he maintains his annual career averages (86 receptions, 1,086 yards, seven TDs) for five more years, he’ll be able to make a serious case for Canton.
“I can play as long as I want to as long as I’m healthy,” Marshall said. “So I think I can play until I’m 40 because my game has never been based on speed… I can always get open. So I think I can play until I’m 40, but I’m not going to (play) until I’m 40.”
Although Marshall admits that the daily grind takes its toll, he’s resolute about the endgame. The longer he plays at an elite level, the more time he’ll have to raise mental illness awareness and let everyone know that children and adults don’t have to be crippled by treatable disorders.
He hates that he hasn’t had a playoff appearance in 136 career games — the longest active streak in the league — but the chase for the Lombardi Trophy has new meaning these days.
“I think about it every day,” Marshall said. “I’ve given this game so much since I was a kid. It’s truly been my only dream. When you put so much into that, it would feel really good to win the Super Bowl. I’m a competitor. That’s in me. Sometimes I have to fight that selfishness. The main reason that I really want to win a Super Bowl now is because of the influence that comes with it. I want to stand on that podium and be crowned a champion. And people will listen forever. Listen to the message that we have to break the stigma on mental illness.”
Thirty-one-year-old Brandon Marshall insists that he’d be friends with 21-year-old Brandon Marshall.
The older version would offer wisdom, starting with some simple advice: Stop texting opposing cornerbacks before sunrise.
Marshall has started every day the same way for years: Wake up at 4:50 a.m., leave the house at 5:15 and get to work. His weekly preparation used to include some unprovoked trash talk to the poor saps assigned to cover him the upcoming Sunday.
He’d get a cornerback’s cell phone number through back channels and fire way: Hey, I’m running on a treadmill right now while you’re sleeping.
It was entertaining, but ultimately counterproductive, so he stopped. He was going to toast those guys on the field either way.
“It wastes too much energy,” Marshall said. “That was when I was young and dumb.”
His personal growth has helped his professional outlook.
“I’m happy for him,” Bowles said. “Just seeing the growth from when we were in Miami until now and the kind of person that I knew he could always be and that he wanted to be is the happiest thing for me. It makes me happy to see him at peace with himself.”
Life is good right now for Brandon Marshall. His wife and newborn twins are pillars. His foundation fuels him. He isn’t anchored by who he used to be.
The picture in front of him is crystal clear.