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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Every time a big, productive name bubbles to the surface as potentially available, it prompts Tennessee Titans faithful to wonder if he will land here. It’s that way for most teams really. It’s especially that way for a team bereft of talent coming off a 2-14 season. The Titans need receiver help. Brandon Marshall is a top-flight target with great size at 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds. In Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey, Chicago has a great pair of big, physical receivers who are hard to defend on their own, better yet in tandem. Marshall didn’t post his standard numbers last season because of an ankle injury, but he played through it a few times and posted big games. But as the Titans try to reset a culture in need of serious changes, I don’t expect Tennessee to jump into the market for Marshall, who is reportedly available for a mid-round draft pick. The Titans need guys who come free, of course. But this would be the fourth time Marshall has come free. He was traded by the Broncos to the Dolphins. He was traded by the Dolphins to the Bears. Now he might be traded by the Bears. You know what teams don’t do with fantastic players they like having on their team? Ship them out of town. As ESPN’s Adam Caplan said, "Brandon Marshall is a guy that you have to understand. If you don’t get him, you may not want him around." Marshall has salaries of $7.5 million, $7.9 million and $8.3, million due over the next three seasons. Those are not prices that should handcuff a team if it gets the sort of production out of Marshall of which he’s capable. He’s not regarded as the greatest locker room guy or influence on teammates. Remember a post-loss speech last season that reporters overheard, and the fallout from it? (Michael C. Wright wrote about it here.) Though he has shown encouraging signs of growth and maturation and took on the stigma of mental illness, the Bears’ apparent desire to part with him suggests there is some sort of hole. He’s got the skill set, the money isn’t outrageous, he embraced the new setting and reunion with Jay Cutler. So what’s the issue? I don’t think the Titans are dying to find out for themselves.
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