Thursday Media Transcript: Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall

Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall

December 28, 2017

Q: What has this experience been like for you, being injured for most of the season?

A: It’s a unique experience because I think a majority of my career I’ve been in this type of environment and I’m usually in the center of it so it felt good to not be in the center of the drama. So that was interesting, but as you grow you can understand things a little bit better. I think I’ve grown a lot through this season being on the other side of it. Adversity, it reveals who you are and we hear this quote so many times, but it’s so true, it reveals who you are. But it’s the perfect opportunity for you to see that and then make changes. That’s the unique thing about football. You come in a boy, you start playing the game as a boy and if you stick around long enough, you become a man. So you learn a lot through these type of times, but it’s really hard to get through them.

Q: How are you feeling physically? Are there any long term concerns?

A: Well I only need a couple more years so I’m not really concerned about long term as long as it can give me two-three more years, I’ll be perfectly fine and I think I will be. I really took this time to work on all the little things that we kind of neglect as we become pros, get back to those college workouts. My focus since a week after my surgery has been living in the weight room and rebuilding myself to come back stronger, faster, more explosive, and healthier. I haven’t just been working on my ankle and my toe, I’ve been working on pretty much everything in my body. When you get older it takes a while for things to get going and fire, things deactivate so you spend a lot of those times working on those secondary muscles. So I’m really excited about this offseason because I really spent the last two months priming myself and getting myself ready. So I should be running, I’m already kind of running now, but really out there running with no restrictions in a couple of weeks.

Q: Does this season and this injury alter your timeline for how long you want to play?

A: Yeah I mean the cool thing about injuries is you’re alone and when you’re alone, you get a chance to do some soul searching and really look deep down into yourself and for me, I’ve realized a lot and I love this game and I wouldn’t say I’ve had one foot in, one foot out, but you never want to be that guy that’s hanging on a little too long. You never want to be that guy come December, you’re 35 years old, you’re still working out expecting a call. I think the reason why a lot of us are so unhealthy when we leave the game is because football is in our identity. When the game is taken away from us or we can no longer play the game, we are lost. For me, I’ve always tried to prepare myself for that whether it is in business or Showtime and my fitness company and these last couple months for me put things into perspective. So I’ve kind of scaled back on a lot of things I’m doing and I’m really focusing on crushing these last couple of years. I’m all in on football, I’ve rebuilt my body. I think I’m two great years away from and I’ll say it, I want to be a Hall of Famer and I think I got two great years to go to be mentioned with some of the greats. I’m not just playing this game just to be a guy, I want to be remembered for the product that I put out on the field. So these last few years have been tough, last year with the Jets, this year with the Giants, but I’m hopeful that the next couple years for me will be some amazing years and some of my best work.

Q: Is there any doubt that you want to return to the Giants?

A: You know how it is, you get to the plus side of 30, a production slip, you get injured, the business side of it, history says that you’re going to get cut or they are going to ask you to take a pay cut. That’s the business side of it, that’s history. So I’m prepared for that, I’ve had a lot of change in my life, but one of the reasons why I came to this organization was for stability and also not to be an environment that we created this year, right? So I was looking for more stability, but I’m built for this and I’ll learn from it.

Q: Are you willing to take another pay cut to return to the Giants next year?

A: Well one, it’s not about the money for me. I’ve done well, my wife and I, we’ve done a great job. So it’s not about the money. I’m good for life, my kids are good for life. But I’m back to my beast, bullish, Brandon Marshall ways. The things that you guys have seen get me in trouble year one, year two, year three, year four, I’m back to that type of mentality. I want it all. It’s about respect, it’s about finishing strong and although it’s not about the money, but I’m approaching it as whatever is for me, I want it all. If that’s $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, I want it all. Whatever I’m worth, I want it all.

Q: How interested are you to see who’s going to be the quarterback next year?

A: Eli Manning is our quarterback so that’s what it is right now and I think everyone is moving forward with that in mind. Obviously like I said, things change in the National Football League and that stuff will play itself out. My focus right now is getting myself back healthy. When March comes and whoever comes in as general manager, head coach, I want them to look at me and say what the hell is this? I want to go out there and the first route I run I want them to say is this guy 33 years old? Is this really a 33-year-old receiver who has come off two surgeries? So that’s my focus right now is just to reinvent myself. I want to go back on the field and I want everybody in the NFL to say this guy needs to be tested for steroids and HGH. Like there is no way this guy should look like this and move like that. So that’s my only focus moving forward.

Q: Was the shoulder that you injured in the preseason game at Cleveland bothering you the first few games?

A: My mind was hurt. When you get injured, you can take that time and really do some soul searching and for me, it came with the mentality of being a wing man, it came with the mentality of I’ll take less to play for a contender, I came with the mentality that I’m content, but I don’t need to do it all. And I’ve gotten back to the way of I want it all. I want to be an All-Pro receiver, I want to be a Pro Bowl player and I think that’s what makes players great, that tamed selfishness of wanting it all. I want to win a Super Bowl, that’s my number one priority, I want to be an All-Pro receiver, I want to be a Pro Bowl player and I came in with the mentality of just wanting to win a Super Bowl.

Q: To clarify, are you saying that you were out of sorts after the hit in the preseason game in Cleveland?

A: I don’t know what you’re talking about. When I said mentally, I mean my mentality. Physically, I was fine. Obviously, we’re all dealing with something. This being my 12th year, of course I have things that are there, but the only thing that affected me this year was my mentality. Coming to a new team, leaving the Jets, and there being talk there about Brandon being in the center of the drama because we’ve got guys being late every damn day and you step to a guy and try to hold him accountable, then you’re in the center of the drama. So, I came here with a mentality of laying low, not really being myself and that’s not me. I’m an outgoing guy, I play with a lot of emotions, I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I learned from this year, you know? And next year will be better. I’ll be a better leader, I’ll be a better football player and I’ll come with a dog mentality of getting the job done.

Q: What do you think wrong with this team this season?

A: I think what we need to do moving forward is, and if I have the privilege of being here, I think I want to bring in my really good friend, Jon Gordon, whose, like, an expert in culture and team building. But it starts in the locker room, it starts with the players. And I think that there’s probably like 10 or 12 of us that need to get together. We need to rebuild relationships, fix relationships because this is what happens, this isn’t a unique situation. I’ve been in this situation my entire career, so this is normal when you’re losing. It’s really tough, it’s a long year, it’s a long season. So what we need to do first is, we need to rebuild some relationships, come together, work through some tough issues. And then once we do that, then we need to come together and figure out how we want to run our locker room. What type of leadership do we want to have, what does leadership look like? Because it’s different for everyone else. We need the type of leadership that’s going to bring guys together, that’s not decisive. We need leadership that’s going to hold guys accountable, even if it comes down to guys getting in each other’s faces, at the right time, before it’s too late. We need leadership that’s going to make guys better, the younger guys. Bringing them up to speed, showing them what professional work ethic looks like, that mentality of coming to work every single day. That’s the type of leadership we need. You’ve got guys that have that. ‘Snacks’ [defensive tackle Damon Harrison] is a phenomenal leader, he has a lot of potential. [Safety] Landon Collins, he has that, he has a lot of potential. But you learn, every year you get stronger and stronger. Every situation I’ve been in, every team I’ve been on, I’ve done it the right way and I’ve done it the wrong way and I’ve always sat back and tried to reflex on it and tried to build on that. So, I want to take some of those things that I’ve learned about being in some tough situations, even some good situations and with some leaders and tried to figure out how we can do it together.

Q: When did you notice that there needs to be more leadership?

A: When we started losing. I’ve never been in the type of team meeting that Coach McAdoo had. The energy, I got goosebumps. I walked in that first team meeting, the music was on, guys were dancing and loving on each other and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m ready to play a game now.’ In camp, we were like internet sensations. The locker room, guys dancing and coming together, I’ve never been a part of that. Then we got into the season and we lost a game. Winning is contagious and losing is contagious. But unfortunately, when you’re in a billion dollar business and you have million dollar athletes, when you start losing the shit gets out of control quick. Same thing that happened with the Jets, same thing that happened in Chicago, it happens. Relationships are damaged, people get fired. And one of the things that I’ve learned is that we’re all interconnected and it’s really hard to keep that together when you’re being evaluated every single day and there’s so much on the line. You can’t take a day off. We’re together more throughout the year as teammates than we are with our families. We barely spend time with our families. I’m with these guys, we’re with each other six days out of the week. We’re all interconnected and it’s extremely tough when you’re losing and there’s so much on the line. There’s jobs on the line, people are going to be fired, kids are going to have to switch schools and make new friends and that’s the toughest part. So, it just can get out of control really quick. So what happened here is no different than what happened with the Jets. My time being in the league, it’s no different than what happened in Chicago, it’s no different than what happened in Denver, it’s no different than what happened in Miami. Hell, in Miami, we had a coach being interviewed, the owner and the general manager were interviewing the coach and we still had a coach sitting in office. They didn’t even fire the guy yet! So, I’ve seen it all, man. I remember walking in [former Miami Dolphins Head] Coach [Tony] Sparano’s office and watching ESPN and we’re like, ‘Oh, the general manager and the owner just landed in California to interview Harbaugh. What?’ This business is crazy, man, but I love it.

Q: Do you have a sense of compassion for cornerback Eli Apple?

A: When I read [NJ.com Giants Beat Reporter] Dan [Duggan’s] article – and I think you guys know my thoughts on that – one, I thought that it was one of the most disgusting articles I’ve read in my 12 years because although you can say, he followed procedure and it was proper, but I think the line was crossed. I don’t think you dive deep into a man’s personal life. You don’t go talk about someone’s parents getting divorced. You don’t go search for that. You don’t go search for some guy’s financials. It’s already hard enough in this world. You don’t go dive and try to figure out how this guy is spending his money and what he’s doing with his family. To me, that’s just crossing a line. And I know not everyone agrees with me on that, but when I read that article, my perspective changed and my perspective changed because it reminded me of 80% of the guys in a locker room. We all go through this, it’s not a unique thing. But the only way you get through it is with family and privacy. And I have compassion for him. I was just one of the cases where I was able to perform and continue to produce while I was going through some of the toughest things. There’s a lot of things that weren’t reported about me – me and my story. But if some of the things that I went through with my father and my brothers and some of my closest friends was reported, we would’ve never gotten through those things. So Eli, I do have compassion for him. And I talked to him and I want to spend time with him this offseason and I told him, it’s not about football. I want to help him get through this because my story, I ended up in a mental institute for three months. I was in an outpatient program because like so many other guys in this locker room that were atlas. The guy was holding up the world, you’re holding up your family and everybody around. What that does to a person, especially a young kid, fresh out of college with no life experiences that could break people down. And for me, I ended up in a mental institute for three months. So, that’s what I saw when I read that story. As a guy that’s really struggling off the field and having a tough time of being a professional every single day when he comes to work. He’s a phenomenal athlete, he’s a good person, he’s just going through some things right. So, with the proper approach and the right people around him, he can get his career back on track because the last thing you want is to be, is labeled. I’ve been labeled my entire career and you can’t shake it, no matter where you go. They say, ‘I’m going to give you a clean slate.’ The media will embrace you, the fans will embrace you, but as soon as anything comes up that looks anything like something of the past, it’s thrown right back in your face. You don’t have that type of grace, people don’t give you that grace when you go through things and you’re labeled a cancer, or you’re labeled a problem, a bad teammate. So for Eli, he has some work to do and I think that he can get his career back on track because he’s a great kid. Got a lot love in his heart, a great talent. But he just needs to work on it this offseason and whatever happens, I think he’ll be fine.