Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Free-agency breakdown: Brandon Marshall

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos have one of the longer lists of free agents in the league and just under two weeks out from the formal opening of the NFL’s festival of checks, it’s a good time to take a one-a-day look at some of the impending Broncos free agents.

Today: Brandon Marshall

Monday: Wes Welker

Wait, what? Marshall is a free agent? No, he isn’t -- at least not an unrestricted free agent who is free to negotiate with any team.

And he isn’t even a restricted free agent, a player who could solicit offers from other teams that the Broncos would have the right to match, though he did appear on a list or two regarding free agency in recent weeks as a restricted free agent.

Because of the strange journey Marshall has taken to this point and perhaps how long it took for folks to notice him, he simply has one of the most unique profiles of any player in the league whose current contract will expire on March 9.

Marshall is an exclusive rights free agent, meaning only the Broncos can offer him a contract. If the Broncos do not offer him a contract, however, then he would become a free agent.

That won’t happen because Marshall isn’t a back-of-the-roster guy, hoping to hang on. He was their leading tackler this past season with 113, or 39 more than the next player (safety T.J. Ward) and that’s despite the fact he missed the final two games of the regular season with a foot injury.

He is a player former defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said was playing at a Pro Bowl level last season. Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway has already said he sees Marshall starting at middle linebacker -- one of the two inside linebacker spots in the team’s new 3-4 scheme.

“I like how Brandon fits in the defense,’’ Elway said. “We like where we’re at there and he played really well for us last season.’’

A player like that has usually been drafted. A player like that has usually been signed to a four-year deal and when that deal ends, he’s an unrestricted free agent looking for a windfall, much like most of the players in the Broncos’ 2011 draft class, a group that includes tight end Julius Thomas, guard Orlando Franklin and safety Rahim Moore.

But like Chris Harris Jr. before him, Marshall has been a real find, who has done it the hard way. Harris went from undrafted rookie in 2011 to getting a five-year, $42.5 million contract extension he signed in December.

Marshall signed with the Broncos in September 2013 after he had been waived by the Jacksonville Jaguars for a third time; he said this past season "after three you do kind of wonder if you have it what it takes, but I tried not to lose my confidence."

Marshall spent almost all of the 2013 season on the Broncos’ practice squad until he was signed to the active roster in Week 17 when Von Miller went to injured reserve. Marshall was on the roster for the final regular-season game and the Broncos' three playoff games.

This past year Marshall moved into the starting lineup and stayed there.

But his five-game season as a rookie with the Jaguars -- he was cut twice during that season alone, before being cut a third time in training camp in ’13 -- to go with that end-of-season stint in '13 with the Broncos means Marshall has still accrued just two official seasons on his résumé.

So he’s not the kind of free agent the Broncos would have to be concerned about losing this time around, but he is exactly the kind of player they would have to reward at some point down the road.

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