Miller: Marshall is worth his weight in gold

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The Bears are at the halfway point of the season and prized off-season acquisition Brandon Marshall currently ranks second in the NFL in receiving. Only Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne has more yardage, but Marshall leads the NFC. Here is a list of Marshalls closest challengers and their current rank:

Rk
PlayerTeam
Rec
Yds
Avg
YdsG
Lng
TD
20
40
1st
1st
FUM
1
Reggie Wayne
IND
61
835
13.7
104.430T
3
15
0
44
72.1
1
2
Brandon Marshall
CHI
59
797
13.5
99.6
39T
7
11
0
41
69.5
0
3
Calvin Johnson
DET
48
767
16.0
95.9
51
1
15
1
38
79.2
0
4
Demaryius Thomas
DEN
45
756
16.8
94.5
71T
4
17
4
28
62.2
3
5
Wes Welker
NE
60
736
12.3
92.0
59
2
7
2
35
58.3
1
6
A.J. Green
CIN
51
735
14.4
91.9
73T
8
8
3
37
72.5
1
7
Victor Cruz
NYG
57
717
12.6
79.7
80T
7
7
2
35
61.4
0
8
Vincent Jackson
TB
31
710
22.9
88.8
95
6
13
4
29
93.5
0
9
Roddy White
ATL
47
709
15.1
88.6
59
4
10
2
41
87.2
0
10
Percy Harvin
MIN
62
677
10.9
75.2
45
3
8
1
36
58.1
0
11
Brian Hartline
MIA
41
662
16.1
82.8
80T
1
8
3
27
65.9
0
12
Miles Austin
DAL
41
637
15.5
79.6
49
4
11
1
30
73.2
1
13
Steve Smith
CAR
38
630
16.6
78.8
66
1
9
2
23
60.5
0
14
Julio Jones
ATL
40
628
15.7
78.5
63T
5
11
2
28
70.0
0
15
Marques Colston
NO
44
626
14.2
78.2
40
6
8
1
35
79.5
1

Barring injury, Marshall will have his work cut out for him in terms of deciding who the best wide receiver is not only in the NFC, but also the NFL as a whole. Marshall is about to face some of the best pass defenses and secondaries in the league entering the second-half of the Bears season.

Matchups against Houston and San Francisco will be a difficult start, and facing the Seahawks and Cardinals won't make for an easy time either. But Marshall's already faced the Dallas Cowboys, whose passing defense rounds out the NFL's top five. The only top five passing defense Marshall has yet to face belongs to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are ranked at No. 1.

As the saying goes, "In order to be the best, you've got to beat the best." Marshall will have an opportunity to erase all doubt of where he stands in the league after facing some of the stiffest competition of the 2012 season.

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