Seahawks remember Brandon Marshall was issued a number

Surprise, 12s! After being the invisible man in the first two preseason games, Brandon Marshall has been sighted with a football in his hands.

Brandon Marshall was signed by the Seahawks with some pretty big expectations back in May. If you were looking for something along the lines of 80 catches for 1200 yards, you need to fix your calendar. And take a look at the Seahawks depth chart while you’re at it. Big expectations for Marshall, at least in my fevered mind, are more like 50 catches for 700 yards. And after the first two preseason games, those limited expectations appeared to be incredibly over the top.

I only took one year of math in college, but I’m pretty sure you can’t catch a ball when you have zero targets. And Marshall had zero targets in the first two Seahawks preseason contests. This despite a lot of talk about how he and Russell Wilson had established some great chemistry. Somehow it didn’t translate to games.

Not until the game against the Vikings, anyway. Brandon Marshall had three catches tonight, and looked more like the 2015 edition than the 2017 version. He used his size to get position, and showed that all the talk about how good he looked in practice actually could translate to game situations. Now, he didn’t exactly light the Vikings up. Three catches for 34 yards isn’t going to start a stampede on your average fantasy football site. But three catches on three targets definitely makes me happy, and should make all 12s happy, too.

Marshall is not going to get anywhere near the targets he needs to break 1,000 yards receiving. For a more complete breakdown, I refer you to this mathy little article. The thing is, the Seahawks don’t need him to haul in anywhere near that yardage. Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are certainly the primary receivers. Those two will combine for nearly 200 targets by themselves. Throw in the tight ends, the fact that every running back on the roster can catch, and a certain seventh-round pick at wide receiver that is lighting up the opposition, and there’s no way Marshall gets the targets he would need for a return to Pro Bowl numbers.

The thing is, I don’t think he cares one bit about that. From every interview, Marshall genuinely sounds happy to be able to contribute, and be the best he can be within the framework of the team. I was happy when the Seahawks signed him. And now that they remembered he’s on the roster, I’m even happier. I expected him to show up against the Chargers, but I’ll take what he did tonight, as will Seattle.