Seahawks expected to sign veteran receiver Marquise Goodwin as OTAs, QB derby begin
While they start their competition to replace Russell Wilson at quarterback, the Seahawks are adding a veteran for Drew Lock and Geno Smith to throw to.
Seattle is expected to announce in the next day or so the signing of 31-year-old former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, a league source told The News Tribune late Sunday night. Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic was the first to report the signing Sunday evening.
On Monday the Seahawks are beginning their next few weeks of not-in-pads, on-field practices called “offseason training activities,” in NFL lingo. It’s the start of Lock’s competition with Smith to replace Wilson as Seattle’s QB.
The team has been seeking a veteran to compete with 2020 top draft choice Dee Eskridge and others as the third wide receiver behind previous Pro Bowl veterans Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf. Eskridge is coming off a rookie season in which he had 10 receptions and missed six games because of a major concussion received in Seattle’s 2021 opener at Indianapolis.
The 5-foot-9 Goodwin ran a wowing 4.27 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the 2013 NFL combine. He is a former Olympian track-and-field athlete. He made the U.S. Olympic team in the long jump in 2012. He made the finals in that event at the London Games.
Goodwin played last season for the Chicago Bears on a near-minimum contract worth $1.21 million. He had 20 receptions on 40 targets with one touchdown in 14 games in 2021.
His best NFL season was in 2017 with the 49ers. He had 56 catches that season.
He’s had 55 receptions total in his four injured and unfathomably difficult years since then.
The 49ers traded him to Philadelphia in April 2020. He then opted out of that ‘20 season during the coronavirus pandemic. That was the end of Goodwin’s time with the Eagles.
Goodwin explained that decision in a video he posted online in the spring of 2020. He said he and his wife Morgan lost three babies to pregnancy and delivery complications in 2017 and ‘18.
He missed the delivery of their first child to play a game for the 49ers. His wife, a former nine-time track All-American at the University of Texas where her husband played football, had a successful pregnancy and delivery of a baby girl in February 2019.
That difficult time is when Goodwin said his game suffered, too. After that 56-catch season with San Francisco in 2017, he had just 35 receptions in 2018 and ‘19 combined.
Goodwin stated in making his decision to opt out in the spring of 2020 he didn’t want to potentially become exposed to COVID-19 while traveling and playing football and risk bringing the coronavirus home to their baby daughter.
He signed with the Bears after not playing for anyone in 2020. He had a relatively bit role as a third wide receiver for Chicago. He played in 43% of the Bears’ offensive snaps last season.
For his career, Goodwin has a relatively low rate of catching passes thrown to him: exactly 50% (160 catches in 320 targets over eight seasons: four with Buffalo, three with San Francisco and last season with Chicago.
Lockett’s career catch percentage of targets thrown to him is 71.8%. Metcalf’s is 60%.
The Bills drafted Goodwin in the third round of the 2013 draft.
His NFL career average of 16.5 yards per catch suggests coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron are considering trying Goodwin as a deep-ball threat for Lock and Smith in OTAs, next month’s veteran minicamp and, they hope, training camp. That begins at the end of July.
This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 11:45 PM.
