Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas product Brandon Marshall back in Super Bowl, eyes leading Broncos to title

Brandon Marshall

David Zalubowski / AP

Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall jokes with reporters at the team’s training camp Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Englewood, Colo.

As the Denver Broncos team bus pulled up to MetLife Stadium in the New York area, Brandon Marshall started to realize this was no ordinary game. The Cimarron-Memorial High graduate was about to play in the Super Bowl.

“It was almost like a movie. The feeling was crazy,” Marshall remembers of the Broncos' Super Bowl 48 appearance against the Seattle Seahawks. “Just pulling up the stadium and how everything looked so big. I remember all of the signs and all of the fans. I was forever grateful for getting a chance to experience that.”

Sunday, he’ll get the chance again.

Marshall and the Broncos are back in the Super Bowl, playing at 3:30 p.m. against the Carolina Panthers in Santa Clara, Calif. This time, though, Marshall’s role is different.

Click to enlarge photo

Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall smiles during an NFL football practice in Stanford, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

Two years ago, Marshall was simply happy to be in the NFL, let alone in its biggest game. He was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars at the end of training camp, but a few weeks later found a spot on Denver’s practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster two weeks before the playoffs started.

Now, Marshall is one of Denver’s best linebackers, and arguably one of the best linebackers in all of football. In 2014, he played almost exclusively on special teams, and Denver was thoroughly beaten, 43-8.

“This time will be different. I will be starting and can leave my stamp on the game,” Marshall said.

He’s already made a stamp on the Denver defense the past two seasons, his first as a full-time player in the league. Marshall, 26, has recorded more than 100 tackles in each of the past two seasons as a starter, including a team-best 113 tackles in 14 games in 2014, and 102 this season.

The difference between the stints has been obvious: The 6-foot-1, 250-pound Marshall is playing with more confidence.

“He was overthinking things earlier in his career,” said Mike Waters of Phase 1 Sports, where Marshall has trained in the offseason since high school.

Marshall was lightly recruited out of high school, but found a spot at UNR and became one of the program’s all-time best defenders. He was a four-year starter in college and totaled 259 career tackles.

Waters remembers taking him to recruiting camps in Los Angeles, trying to get an athlete he believed was full of ability and desire noticed. Marshall still returns for offseason work at Phase 1 Sports.

“He still has that underdog mentality,” Waters said. “He understood he had to be patient and outwork everybody. Everything he went through those first couple of years in the league was already mentally prepared for.”

Marshall was so impressive in 2014 on the Denver practice squad that Peyton Manning, the legendary quarterback who is likely playing in his final game Sunday, recommended to team officials that Marshall be promoted to the active roster. Then, when Von Miller suffered a season-ending injury, Marshall got his chance.

He’s been a mainstay in Denver ever since.

“I am more comfortable with the game,” Marshall said. “I can step on the field at any time and not have anxiety because I have been there before.”

Come Sunday, the same will be true with the Super Bowl.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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