Seattle Seahawks cut wide receiver, Brandon Marshall

In a surprise move, the Seattle Seahawks cut veteran wide receiver Brandon Marshall Monday afternoon. A combination of factors ultimately led to his release.

When star wide receiver Doug Baldwin injured his knee at the start of this season, Seattle Seahawks fans were concerned about the passing game, and rightfully so. Aside from Tyler Lockett the rest of the pass catchers were pretty much a question mark.

At the time not much was known about Jaron Brown, who came over from Arizona in the offseason or David Moore, a veteran of one NFL game. The Seahawks also signed 34-year-old Brandon Marshall, a former six-time Pro Bowl receiver in May to a one year, $1.1M contract. Marshall was coming off an injury-plagued 2017 season with the New York Giants, that limited him to just five games.

More from Seattle Seahawks

• Seattle Seahawks: To rest or not to rest, that is the question
• Seattle Seahawks: 12s still waiting to exhale
• Seattle Seahawks: 4 Takeaways from 26-23 Loss to the 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks: Four Takeaways from Week 14 21-7 victory
• Seattle Seahawks: Three Takeaways from the Week 13 43-16 victory

Some of the doubts 12s had were answered by Marshall in the opener at Denver. He caught three passes for 46 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, Marshall had the most targets from quarterback Russell Wilson, six.

He was good as well in week two against the Bears in Chicago. Marshall was again targeted six times and pulled in four passes for 44 yards. It seemed as though the gamble had paid off and Marshall was going to be a nice slot/possession receiver. Unfortunately for him, the well started to go dry.

Marshall had six more targets but this time only caught two passes for 30 yards against Dallas the following week, even worse, he started to look slow. From there it was downhill. He had just five combined targets in the following three games and none in Detroit last Sunday.

It wasn’t just Marshall looking/being slow, it was a combination of factors that led to his decline and subsequent release. First was the Seahawks move to a run-based offense. Next Baldwin returned to the lineup for game four, sliding Marshall back down the depth chart. Finally, there is the emergence of Moore, who has four touchdown receptions in the last three games.

There were rumors that the Seahawks were trying to trade Marshall before the deadline, but it looks like they couldn’t find a buyer. In the end, he was expendable and the Seahawks let him go.