Before the tears from his retirement party had a chance to dry, Rod Smith could see he’s not done with football. The greatest receiver in Broncos history can make one more huge catch for the team.
Brandon Marshall, nearly unstoppable on an NFL field but in real danger of being shut down by a suspension from commissioner Roger Goodell, could use a strong, guiding hand to save the 24-year-old Denver star from ruin.
“Honestly, I want to be a part of Marshall’s team, be on his side, helping to teach him how to decipher right from wrong,” Smith told me Thursday. “Not to be his dad, because he ultimately makes his own choices. I want to be his friend. A mentor.”
Five minutes earlier, Smith was clutching a tissue, wiping away the powerful emotions that formed puddles in his eyes as he announced the end of his brilliant 14-year career as a player.
But there’s a major piece of unfinished business for Smith. For him, the Broncos have always been a band of brothers, and a young’un needs a boost.
The undeniable talent of Marshall would be a terrible thing to waste.
“He’s an amazing player, and you don’t want to see somebody with the opportunity that (Marshall) has blow it,” Smith said. “He already is in a far better position to do great things on the football field than I ever was in my whole career. But the thing is: You could let some bad decisions ruin everything.”
With a charge of driving under the influence and more romance-gone- bad melodrama in his life than in an episode of “Judge Judy,” Marshall was summoned last week to NFL headquarters in New York with some serious explaining to do as Goodell listened. Regardless of your rooting interest in the case or how you weigh the evidence, the meeting portends trouble for Marshall’s immediate football future.
“You are always concerned anytime the commissioner calls you in to have a meeting. It’s obviously not a good sign,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said less than 24 hours before the opening practice of training camp.
While Goodell has yet to determine whether Marshall has run afoul of the league’s stringent personal conduct policy or if punishment is merited, it’s not too early to post the over/under line at four games for how long the Broncos might have to survive without their most dangerous receiver.
Will the Commish send Marshall to his room without dinner and ban him from the season opener in Oakland? I wouldn’t wager against it, despite my opinion that Goodell’s overwrought sense of justice seems to lean more heavily on the Cub Scout Handbook than the American legal system.
“This is a different world now. There’s a ton of temptations that can really derail you. I call these players the ‘YouTube generation,’ because everything you do is on videotape somewhere . . . ” said Smith, who accompanied Marshall to New York for the 2 1/2-hour meeting with Goodell.
You can be assured of one thing: If Marshall goes absent from Denver’s offensive huddle for more than a month for any reason, the Broncos will be watching with sniffling noses regrettably pressed against the television glass when the playoffs begin.
Marshall is called Baby T.O. for good reason. The list of current Broncos with anywhere near the current athletic ability of Marshall begins with Champ Bailey and ends with Jay Cutler.
“I told (Marshall) a long time ago, after watching his skills: ‘You know what? I’m going to help you take my job one day,’ ” said Smith, who recently opened his home to Marshall for film study, and shared tricks of the trade employed by a master pass-catcher.
“I was showing him how he left 400 yards on the football field last season. It was disgusting. I told him, ‘You didn’t even have to catch another ball and you could have gained 400 more yards.’ ”
But as his 102 catches in 2007 attest, Marshall’s combination of size and speed can frighten NFL defensive backs like few receivers this side of Terrell Owens, and Denver’s budding young star could be the most dangerous downfield weapon the team has developed in its passing game since . . . well, Smith himself, whose run to glory began as an undrafted rookie way back in 1994.
“When I see little kids in the mall wearing No. 80, it means so much to me,” said Smith, who thanked the Broncos for teaching him how to be both a champion and a better man.
Now for the real test: Can Smith pass those traits forward?
“Some of the things I saw Marshall doing last year and some of the people I saw him hanging around, I told him, ‘Get away from those guys.’ And he did it,” Smith said. “Anything I can do to help him with cleaning up some of the things off the field, I’m there.”
On his first visit to Broncos headquarters as a former player, the sun reflected in the diamonds of two Super Bowl rings perched on the mitts Smith used to catch 68 touchdown passes.
For the ultimate teammate in franchise history, there might be only one greater reward.
Imagine 15 years down the road, at the retirement party for Marshall, if the new holder of every Broncos receiving record dabs at his own tears, and humbly thanks Smith for the strong, guiding hand.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
