Brandon Marshall's release from Giants will start inevitable Dez Bryant speculation

On Wednesday, Brandon Marshall let Dez Bryant know via a deleted Instagram post that there was “no room” for him on the New York Giants. If that wasn’t narcissistic enough, Marshall made sure to call Bryant, one of the NFL’s best receivers over the past decade, “baby bro.”

On Thursday, there suddenly was room.

Marshall, who has played for five franchises over 12 seasons but somehow has never made it to the playoffs, was cut by the Giants on Thursday. The official reason was that Marshall failed his physical. Marshall has spent fewer seasons with each successive team at his various NFL stops. He started with four truly rocky seasons in Denver. Then he lasted three seasons in Miami before the Dolphins traded him. Then it was two seasons in Chicago before the Bears moved on. Marshall played just two seasons with the Jets and then just one unproductive one with the Giants. Marshall is 34 and is coming off a 154-yard season in which he played just five games due to a season-ending ankle injury.

What Marshall’s release really means is that there will be a lot of dots connected between that transaction and Bryant being a free agent. Bryant stated after the Dallas Cowboys cut him that the wanted to play the Cowboys twice a season, which meant he wanted to land with one of the Cowboys’ NFC East rivals. None of those three teams has shown any public interest in Bryant, and there were mixed messages from the Giants and the media there about the possibility on Thursday.

It’s fun to speculate though, and an offense with Odell Beckham, Dez Bryant and Sterling Shepard (and maybe Saquon Barkley with the second pick?) would be a fun one. Bryant and Beckham on the same team, especially in the New York market, would be good for a few headlines. It doesn’t hurt to dream, after all.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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