Bears' Marshall gets four days off
Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall is taking a four-day excused leave from the team.
Marshall will miss the Bears' preseason finale on Thursday against the Cleveland Browns. He will return to the team on Sunday and practice on Monday, coach Marc Trestman said.
"This was a planned-out miss today for personal reasons," Trestman said. "We wanted to let him get through practice (on Wednesday), but we let him go for personal reasons. It's something that was part of the offseason plan since we started training camp."
On Tuesday, Marshall had expressed his frustration with his recovery from offseason hip surgery. But Trestman declined to say whether the absense was related to Marshall's health.
"I'd rather just leave it to personal reasons out of respect to Brandon, but it's all good," Trestman said. "As I've said when I let guys go for personal reasons, it's all good, and this is all good. It's not reflected in anything other than I gave him time off."
Marshall said he thought the Bears might be asking him to do too much in preparation for the season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 8.
"He had a very good practice on Tuesday," Trestman said. "He ran well, he ran his routes, he took his reps. I can't speak for his comments, but what I saw on the field was a guy getting ready to play."
Marshall has had three hip surgeries since 2009, including the latest in January, and was cleared for training camp after sitting out most of the offseason.
Last season, Marshall set a Bears record for receptions with 118 in his first year with the team.
"I'm just trying to get healthy for Week 1," Marshall said Tuesday. " ... I'm not where I want to be right now. For myself, mentally (and) physically, we need to pick it up a little more."
