ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Maybe if they had only cut him once, Brandon Marshall wouldn’t pay attention to what the Jacksonville Jaguars are doing.

Maybe if the Jaguars had only cut him twice he wouldn’t search out their results as often. Maybe, just maybe, if the Jaguars had not cut him three times Marshall wouldn’t look at a 2-11 team and wonder how they couldn’t find a place for him.

“Sometimes, I do," the Denver Broncos linebacker said after Friday's practice. “I watch a lot of their games actually. I know some of the guys, one of the guys I was on practice squad with is doing well, Ryan Davis, he’s got like seven sacks, he’s doing well. He’s the one I guess they didn’t let get away."

Brandon Marshall has emerged from the smoke and given the Denver Broncos' defense a jolt of energy. Chris Humphreys/USA TODAY Sports

But Marshall is currently the leading tackler for the No. 4 total defense with 106 tackles in 13 games, or 47 more than the Broncos' next player, safety T.J. Ward. That’s a long and winding road, including a find-yourself stint on Interstate 95 in north Florida, from a linebacker who was waived twice by the Jaguars in his rookie season in 2012 and then waived again by the team as 2013’s training camp drew to a close.

“After being cut so many times, you do start to question," Marshall said. “After the second time I got cut, I took a long drive, 95 South out of Jacksonville, went to St. Augustine, and I was just thinking, I took some time to myself ... 'What am I doing wrong? Is it me? Why is this happening to me?' I’ve never been cut before, I’ve always been someone the team could count on."

On those 41 or so miles of interstate highway, Marshall mulled over being a fifth-round draft pick by the Jaguars and how he couldn't manage to make their depth chart.

“The only answer I came up with was just control what you can control, just control what you can control, keep working no matter what the circumstances are," Marshall said. “Because we all go through hard times, life, football, with jobs, whatever. I felt like a lot of people don’t reach their potential, don’t reach their peak because they give up too soon. They don’t push through the hard times. I think that’s what makes a successful person, because if you keep pushing through the rough times, then you come out, it’s almost like cocoon phase, you come out better version of yourself."

And with that thought there was this as well: “If you quit they’re right. And then where are you? You’re stuck where you was at and nowhere to go."

The story didn’t turn all rainbows and sunshine, at least from a football perspective. When Marshall was cut by the Jaguars in training camp in ’13, the Broncos signed him to their practice squad.

But instead of cruising in neutral on what Broncos head coach John Fox calls “the developmental squad," Marshall went about the business of being chief irritant to the Broncos’ record-setting offense last season, becoming a scout-team all-star.

He was such as star that during the Broncos’ 52-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4 last season, Fox strolled over to Marshall, who was on the sideline in street clothes, and gave him a boost.

“Coach Fox came up to me on the sideline and we were winning big and I’m a practice squad player he doesn’t have to say anything to me," Marshall said. “He came up to me and said ‘Brandon keep working because you’re going to get your opportunity.’ I thought that was big, me being on practice squad and in the middle of the game, he has a game to coach, come up and talk to me about that. I thought that was big, that gave me extra motivation to keep working."

That opportunity came when Danny Trevathan got hurt in the preseason and again against the New York Jets, and Marshall now finds himself calling the plays in defensive huddle as a linebacker.

He's isn't just there to keep the spot warm either. Trevathan will be moved back on to the roster Saturday from injured reserve/designated to return, but the Broncos will now find a way for Trevathan to play alongside Marshall, because when asked this week if Marshall had played at a Pro Bowl level, Del Rio said;

“I would say he’s playing at a Pro Bowl level. For an inside backer in this league, very productive, very active, he does a lot, he doesn’t come off the field. He’s had a Pro Bowl kind of year. Now what happens typically is you wake people up on the first year and then the next year they vote for you. But who knows ... he’s been central to a lot of what we’re doing."

“He’s coached ... Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, so for him to say that about me means a lot," Marshall said. “It means I’m in pretty good company so far."