Kristian Dyer: Brandon Marshall’s comments much ado about nothing

Brandon Marshall may have turned some heads on Tuesday night during his appearance on ‘Inside the NFL’ on Showtime but his head coach on the New York Jets doesn’t have an issue with what his star wide receiver said. He just wants him to say it better and “smarter.”

It is much ado about nothing with regards to Marshall’s comments from Tuesday where he said that players he’s spoken to in the NFL think”that white players, specifically at the quarterback position, are treated differently.” His comments were made when discussing ‘Deflategate’ and the handling of Tom Brady’s suspension with Marshall inferring that white players getpreferentialtreatment from the league in terms of discipline.

And while Marshall’s comments were head turning. it is important to note that he wasn’t endorsing a particular view. In fact, he is claiming to have reported research from NFL locker rooms of which he is currently a part of one. As such he wasn’t saying that “white players” or quarterbacks are treated differently, just that it is a popular viewpoint in NFL locker rooms. This wasn’t an endorsement or necessarily his view, just a football player on a TV show where he is asked to provide an opinion as someone from within the locker room.

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Nothing earth-shattering or inappropriate. It may not be a popular point or even accurate but Marshall is simply doing his job on the show and reporting what he is hearing.

And Jets head coach Todd Bowles, himself a player in the NFL and a Super Bowl champion, didn’t take umbrage with his player’s words.

“He brought it up to me, it was a normal conversation. We talked about it in-depth like two grown men and we let it go,” Bowles said. “I read the article; he understood where I’m coming from, I understood wherehe’s coming from. We moved on.”

Noticeably tight-lipped and himself very cautious with his words, Bowles isn’t asking his verbose wide receiver to clam-up. Just to use a little caution and restraint on what he and how he says things.

“I think his opinion is well-warranted in what he said. I’m sure you have cases back when I played. I’ve seen some things just likehe’s seen some things,” Bowles said.

“I’m not on that platform, he is. He just has to be smarter.”

To his credit, Bowles has done a fairly good job of doubling-down on a locker room that in years past has run their mouths like a gerbil on an exercise wheel. Bowles just wants to see his team takeon a more mature approach outlook on things.

You know, the polar opposite of the way their last head coach did things. Shots fired.

“In terms of how he says things. You can say things and then come out a different way than you mean it,” Bowles said. “You just have to be smarter in how you say it.”