A top-shelf player in the NFL, Brandon Marshall received appropriate treatment on his visit to Seattle on Saturday.
The restricted free agent from the Denver Broncos arrived at the team’s Renton headquarters on the banks of Lake Washington by seaplane, with coach Pete Carroll the first to greet Marshall.
It was the same red carpet treatment the Seahawks rolled out to help woo another talented receiver a year ago. Seattle eventually won out over Minnesota and Cincinnati in securing the services of veteran wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh during the first weekend of free agency in 2009.
Now the Seahawks are looking to Marshall to help complement Houshmandzadeh, the precise route-runner who led Seattle with 79 receptions last season.
According to reports, Marshall will stay through today, and the Seahawks likely will not sign an offer sheet this weekend.
The two sides used their time together to find out if they would be a good fit for both Marshall and the team.
As of Saturday, no other team has emerged as a competitor for Marshall’s services.
Marshall is a restricted free agent, and the Broncos tagged him with a first-round tender, meaning any team that signs Marshall to an offer sheet would have to give up a first-round pick as compensation if Denver doesn’t match the offer.
For Seattle, that would mean the Seahawks would be on the hook to give up the team’s No. 6 overall pick iin next month’s draft.
If the Seahawks sign an offer sheet for Marshall, Denver has seven days to match the offer, or let Marshall go for Seattle’s No. 6 overall pick.
However, a second option exists where the Seahawks and Broncos essentially do a sign-and-trade deal.
Like the first option, the Seahawks and Marshall would negotiate terms for a new deal. Once that’s in place, the Broncos, who want to part ways with Marshall anyway, could negotiate terms for compensation they would receive from Seattle for the right to sign Marshall.
Under that scenario, Denver would not necessarily receive Seattle’s No. 6 pick as compensation. The Broncos might settle for Seattle’s No. 14 overall pick, which the Seahawks received in a draft-day trade from Denver last season.
The Broncos sent their first-round pick this season to Seattle for a second-round pick in 2009, which Denver used to take Wake Forest cornerback Alphonso Smith.
If the Seahawks ultimately want Marshall, the negotiations between the Seahawks, Broncos and Marshall likely will take more than a couple days to hash out.
But if Seattle is successful in securing Marshall’s services, the Seahawks would have one of the more durable receiver tandems in the league at a position where the Seahawks have been fragile of late.
Marshall has missed only one game due to injury in his four seasons in the league.
His potential running mate, Houshmandzadeh, has missed only five games in the past six seasons. The two also share the same agent, Kennard McGuire, who is in town with Marshall this weekend.
Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437
eric.williams@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks
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