Bears Give Brandon Marshall Four-Day Excused Absence

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 28, 2013 8:55PM

The Chicago Bears gave wide receiver Brandon Marshall a four-day excused absence from the team Wednesday after Marshall complained to media about his conditioning and his role in the new offense by head coach Marc Trestman and offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer.

Marshall told the Bears media corps Tuesday he was concerned about being healthy for the season opener against Cincinnati after he underwent hip surgery in January, the third hip surgery Marshall underwent in his playing career. Marshall set franchise season records with set franchise records with 118 receptions for 1,508 yards last season and was often quarterback Jay Cutler's first and only receiving option. Marshall was given the entire offseason off to recover and has had a steady preseason, but dropped two passes against Oakland last week as Cutler spread the ball to other receivers in what was a tuneup game.

Trestman told the press Marshall's absence was planned in advance but wouldn't connect it to his recovery.

“I’d rather just leave it to personal reasons out of respect to Brandon,” Trestman said. “But it’s all good. As I have said, when I let guys go for personal reasons, it’s all good. It’s not reflective of anything other than I gave him time off. He will be back on Sunday.”

Marshall's outburst Tuesday could be seen as typical alpha wide receiver behavior, but there are other factors to consider. Marshall has been open about his battles with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and has stated dealing with it has held back his professional career. No one's talking at Halas Hall and Marshall is being given his distance and respect. He will, however, miss the Bears' preseason finale Thursday.