The NFL has informed Brandon Marshall's agent that the Broncos receiver won't be suspended for a since-dropped March charge of disorderly conduct aimed against him and his current fiancée, Michi Leshase Nogami-Campbell. And as the Denver Post's Mike Klis implies in the article linked above, Marshall's representatives will no doubt argue that he shouldn't receive additional punishment related to the outcome of an upcoming Atlanta court case brought by his former girlfriend, Rasheedah Watley, because he already served a one-game suspension and received a two-game fine for it.
This decision certainly calls into question NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's rep as a hanging judge. After all, it's being made public just days after a shocking ESPN report that made Marshall look like the domestic-abuse land-speed champion.
Given this free pass, expect Marshall to step up his efforts to receive a giant new contract -- one he would most certainly deserve if only his on-the-field efforts were taken into account. But the Broncos will be taking an enormous risk if they pay him what he wants, since there's absolutely zero indication that he's learned his many lessons. Future suspensions remain not just possible, but likely, despite Goodell's sudden reticence to lower the boom.
Moreover, any cash bonanza will make the Broncos look as if they're rewarding a guy who Watley accuses of stabbing her in the leg, among many other startling incidents. The team -- which, according to the ESPN package, may have tried to get Watley to return to Marshall after at least one confrontation -- would clearly have a lot of 'splainin' to do. And as witnessed by the recent Jay Cutler fiasco, new coach Josh McDaniels and owner Pat Bowlen haven't shown much aptitude for that lately.
In the meantime, though, look for Marshall apologists to position him as a victim of persecution rather than a victimizer of women, even as the NFL proves once again that it doesn't take domestic violence nearly as seriously as it should.
