The veteran wide receiver market might pick up some steam pretty soon. The Seattle Seahawks are signing Brandon Marshall to a one-year deal. Marshall posted about it on Instagram, and Adam Schefter is reporting the deal has a maximum value of $2 million if he hits the incentives.
Marshall joins a Seahawks wide receiver depth chart that is not exactly an overwhelming group. Doug Baldwin leads the way, finishing last season with 75 receptions for 991 yards and eight touchdowns. He preceded that with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons, and there is no doubt he is the best of the bunch.
Paul Richardson was next last season with 44 receptions for 703 yards, but he left for Washington as a free agent. Tyler Lockett had 45 receptions for 555 yards, and along with Marshall, he will be competing with Jaron Brown, who was brought in via free agency. The Seahawks will once again be relying heavily on Russell Wilson, and hope the ground game can get going with draft pick Rashaad Penny.
If Marshall hits his incentives they’ll get a productive receiver, but if he does not show much in training camp, they likely will be able to release him without much to do. What’s more interesting with this signing is what it means for guys like Dez Bryant and Jeremy Maclin. I suspect we see some signings over the next couple weeks, and then more shortly before training camp.
Dez Bryant recently suggested he was interested in the 49ers. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan might have zero interest in him, but if they have even a little bit, Marshall signing could spur the kind of incentive-laden deal they would likely want to give to Bryant.