Running routes is one thing. Catching the ball is another entirely. I'll believe the 'catching balls a month ahead of schedule' thing when I see it.

ur right gregg. he will be undervalued. let them wait. i had him last year. as a no.1 on denver (when walker was injured) no one, NO ONE was more consistant on a week to week basis as him. solid. and with way more upside this year. in dynasty hes gold. i see people ranking calvin johnson above him. and thats just crazy. hes more on track of a braylon edwards. and the injury will blow over just like his highjinx last year. same story every year. itll be fun to see what happens to him next offseason. lol.

I have Marshall in a dynasty league and on my keeper league roster last year. What I'm wondering is if he's worth hanging onto in my keeper league this year if his upside is that good, but I also have T.O., Andre Johnson, and Marques Colston as options to keep. Does he have more long-term value than all of them?

3 questions w/ Marshall.

1. Will he stay on the left
side opposite CB-2's ?

2. Will he deal w/ what'll
surely be ramped-up
scheming to deal with
him ?

3. Will DEN's revamped OL
(L-OT especially w/o
Lepsis) keep Cutler
clean.

Even if the answers are
yes, yes and yes, he's
still only a high level,
WR-2 in my book.

Brandon Marshall is obviously a good WR pick, but other WRs have had good early years and then struggled.

Michael Clayton, Koren Robinson, even a guy like Lee Evans took a huge step back.

Just to take the other poster's point about Calvin Johnson. If you compare their athletic ability, there is no question who is better. Calvin is taller, faster, and has better hands. If you compare their rookie seasons, Calvin's was far superior. (If we projected the same jump from Calvin's first to second seasons that we saw with Marshall - which is by no means impossible - then Calvin would be #2 this year to Randy Moss.)

If we compare their season's in 2008 by FootballOutsiders DVOA, or value per play, metric, then Calvin Johnson finished 35th, Brandon Marshall 53rd. The key to Marshall and predicting improvement is to realize that he had 169 targets in '08. Calvin had 93. Despite all of those targets, Marshall scored only 7 TDs.

When you look at '08 it is unlikely that Marshall will have nearly as many targets again (though not impossible). To simply maintain his '07 numbers Marshall would have to do some combination of increasing his yards per catch and his catch percentage. It would also help if the Broncos visited the Red Zone more frequently.

Few of the top WRs did less on a per play basis than Marshall a season ago. Will he do more on a per play basis than he did in '07? Probably. Will it be enough to maintain his numbers? Probably not. A year after Lee Evans posted monster numbers, opposing defenses found a way to take him out of the game. Marshall is a more imposing physical specimen, but Denver's offense - with the obvious and important exception at QB - lacks the ability to keep a defense honest. Their running game has withered and died and their other WRs are pretty sorry. I'd feel a lot more comfortable drafting Calvin Johnson.

Just another point of reference. Anquan Boldin had more yards (1377) and more touchdowns (8) and a better value per play (38) on fewer targets (165) in his rookie season than Marshall did last year in his second.

Of course, Marshall has better speed and is a slightly superior red zone threat (both in terms of physical ability and likely number of targets). But the important thing to keep in mind is sample size. Boldin has followed up that rookie season with four solid seasons, but injuries, quarterback uncertainty, and the emergence of Larry Fitzgerald has kept him from becoming a huge star.

Still, Boldin followed up an injury-riddled second season with a 1417 yard, 7 TD season in '05.

Boldin is considered to be a top WR2 going into '08 despite going for 850 yards and 10 touchdowns on only 100 targets in '07. He was the 17th most value receiver per play. A healthy Boldin projects in the 150 targets range for '08 and with that many targets he projects to outperform Marshall by a good distance.

Again, this is not to suggest that Marshall won't be an excellent fantasy player in '07 but simply that there are many, many players who project out at least as high or higher who aren't being considered as high.

Marshall is a step above Robinson and Evans. Koren drank his talent away and Evans has a nobody at QB. I expect a Braylon Edwards type break out this year.

Martz is out of Detroit and its Williams's year for a big contract year. Im not buying the Calvin Johnson hype this year.