Brandon Marshall signed his tender, Why?

Today, after talking to Josh McDaniels on the phone, Brandon Marshall signed his one-year, $2.512 million tender. The Restricted Free Agent period ends April 15th, if the Broncos hadn't signed him before then, things would have been messy. This raises a question, why did he sign?

It could only mean one of two things. The first--which is widely considered the main reason he signed by all media outlets--is this; the Broncos may trade Brandon Marshall on draft day. Now that he has signed, the Broncos have all the leverage with negotiating teams, because they have all the 'rights' to him. The draft is only 9 days away, and this could be a sure sign Denver is going to trade him.

There is another possibility too though, Brandon Marshall and the Broncos may have resolved there differences, and are working out a long term deal. Not wanting any interference from Free Agent WR-seeking teams, they may have signed him to prevent another team from signing him to an offer sheet. That may be stretching it, but we can't rule it out as a possibility.

If the Broncos were to trade Marshall, they would like a first round pick for him, but after the former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes was traded for just a 5th rounder, that may be out of the question. Again, the Broncos do have all the leverage though, and hold all the cards, if they don't like what a team offers, they can keep their Pro Bowl Wide Receiver for a fifth season (which doesn't sound like a bad idea to me).