HEADLINES

Marquise Goodwin

Browns To Sign WR Marquise Goodwin

March 24th, 2023 at 1:43pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Browns are making another addition to their receiver room, this time via free agency. Veteran Marquise Goodwin is headed to Cleveland on a one-contract, per ESPN’s Field Yates (Twitter link).

The Browns had been interested in adding a vertical threat to their offense this offseason, and they targeted Goodwin as an option by hosting him on a visit earlier this week. He will add a speed element to the team’s revamped WR room, which lacked a true burner near the top of the depth chart.

Goodwin, 32, will likely have a rotational role behind starting wideouts Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones. The latter two have been joined by former Jets second-rounder Elijah Moore, who was dealt to the Browns amidst his trade request and New York’s efforts to reshape their own receiver stable. The latter will operate in the slot, with Goodwin in place as an experienced option behind him after stints with four different teams.

During the first of those, with the Bills, Goodwin worked as a starter for only one season. After his underwhelming time in Buffalo came to an end, the former third-rounder enjoyed by far the best campaign of his career. In 2017, the first of his three years in San Francisco, Goodwin recorded 962 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 56 receptions. That year marked the only time in which he received more than 100 targets, as he has been used in a less pronounced role since then.

Goodwin took on a complimentary role in the past two years with the Bears and Seahawks, respectively. His yardage totals and catch percentages have fluctuated over the course of his career, but his yards per catch average (16.2 overall) has remained relatively consistent. The 5-9, 180-pounder will look to give the Browns a boost in the downfield passing game in 2023 as the team aims to take a sizable step forward in their offensive efficiency.

WR Notes: Hopkins, Cardinals, Chiefs, Ridley, Browns, Slayton, Texans, Dolphins

March 21st, 2023 at 4:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Brandin Cooks trade domino dropped Sunday morning, leaving DeAndre Hopkins as the only clear-cut impact receiver trade chip available. The Cardinals continue to shop the 11th-year veteran, and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes talks are ramping up (Twitter link). Hopkins is amenable to adjusting his contract to facilitate a deal, and Rapoport adds an adjusted contract is likely. As is, Hopkins’ through-2024 contract calls for a $19.45MM base salary this season. That will likely be untenable to interested teams.

As far as interested parties go, the Chiefs are viewed as a team angling to acquire a veteran. Whether it is Hopkins or Odell Beckham Jr., veteran NFL reporter Mike Jurecki adds (on Twitter) Kansas City is on the market for an addition. With JuJu Smith-Schuster signing with the Patriots, it is unsurprising the defending champions are interested in upgrading. Mecole Hardman remains a free agent, and while the Chiefs were expected to move on from the speedster, his price range may have dropped considering his extended stay in free agency. Patrick Mahomes‘ restructure created $9.6MM in cap space for the Chiefs, though they sit at just more than $9MM as of Tuesday.

Staying on the Hopkins front, here is the latest from the receiver scene:

  • The Browns are not believed to be interested in reuniting Hopkins with Deshaun Watson, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports tweets. Cleveland has a big contract at receiver (Amari Cooper‘s) already, though the team could benefit from a veteran presence alongside its No. 1 target. The Browns did host Marquise Goodwin on a visit that has spanned from Monday to today, Anderson adds (on Twitter). Goodwin spent last season with the Seahawks, catching 27 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns. The former Olympic long jumper is going into his age-33 season.
  • Darius Slayton is back with the Giants, re-signing on a two-year deal worth $12MM. That contract includes $4.9MM guaranteed, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets. This can be treated more like a one-year deal; the Giants can save $6MM by cutting Slayton in 2024. That said, Slayton said (via the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy) he received other offers in free agency. The Giants, despite burying him on their initial 2022 depth chart and cutting his pay, reached out early and will have the former fifth-round pick back in the fold. The team’s improvement last season helped convince Slayton to stay.
  • A year after he signed for the exact terms Slayton reached (with the Jets), Braxton Berrios is now in Miami. The ex-Hurricanes receiver agreed to terms with the Dolphins on what KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes is a one-year, $3.5MM pact (Twitter link). Berrios will receive $3MM guaranteed, giving him a good chance of being part of the Dolphins’ 53-man roster. The Dolphins still have Cedrick Wilson and brought back River Cracraft and Freddie Swain last week.
  • Noah Brown‘s one-year Texans deal is worth $2.6MM, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The longtime Cowboys wideout received $2.25MM guaranteed and can add an additional $500K through incentives.
  • Addressing his season-long gambling suspension recently, Calvin Ridley said he deposited $1,500 into an unspecified betting app and, after making approximately $200 worth of NBA bets, he included the Falcons in a parlay. Denying he had inside information, Ridley said (via a piece on The Players’ Tribune) he had been away from the Falcons for a month, was not talking to anyone on the team and made the bet to root for his teammates. Regarding Ridley’s midseason Falcons exit in 2021, the former first-round pick said he was dealing with depression and anxiety. Ridley said he played most of the 2020 season (a career-high 1,374-yard slate) on a broken foot, but he was not informed of the break until June 2021. He underwent surgery, which was described as a minor procedure, but said he was not close to 100% by Week 1. This and Ridley’s house being robbed on that Week 1 Sunday intensified his anxiety. The NFL reinstated Ridley, now with the Jaguars, earlier this month.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/31/22

December 31st, 2022 at 5:15pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s roster moves heading into gameday:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Promoted from practice squad: G Kyle Hinton, DL T.J. Smith

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Commanders

Contract Details: Michel, Goodwin

June 9th, 2022 at 9:24pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are some details on deals recently signed around the NFL:

  • Sony Michel, RB (Dolphins): One-year, $1.75MM. The deal, according to Ben Volin of The Boston Globe, has a guaranteed amount of $850,000 consisting of a $350,000 signing bonus and $500,000 of the base salary. Michel will also earn a per game active bonus of $14,117 for a potential season total of $240,000.
  • Marquise Goodwin, WR (Seahawks): One-year, $1.27MM. The contract, according to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, has a guaranteed amount of $152,500 in the form of a signing bonus. It’s a low-risk deal meant to either bring in a veteran on the back end of the depth chart or motivate the younger players on the back end of the depth chart to up their game.

Seahawks Signing WR Marquise Goodwin

May 22nd, 2022 at 10:16pm CST by Ely Allen

The Seahawks are bringing in some veteran competition to camp with the signing of wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. Goodwin will be looking to use camp to solidify a spot on his fourth NFL team. 

Goodwin is a deep-threat wide receiver that was drafted out of Texas in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Bills. His best year in Buffalo saw him catch 29 passes for 431 yards and three touchdowns.

That performance convinced the 49ers to give him a chance and Goodwin gave them the best season of his career, catching 56 balls for 962 yards and two touchdowns. He was only able to play in 11 games the following year, but was still able to put up a career high four touchdown catches. He played in nine games to start the 2019 season, before being placed on injured reserve.

The 49ers traded Goodwin to Philadelphia in the next offseason for a swap of sixth round picks. Goodwin took the option available to all players that year: opting out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stipulations in the trade agreement reverted Goodwin back to San Francisco and the Eagles received a seventh-round draft pick as a result of the failed deal. The 49ers released him the next day. Last season, Goodwin signed with the Bears, getting limited looks in 14 games of action.

Seattle returns their top three wide receivers in D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Freddie Swain, but, behind them, their fourth-most productive receiver was rookie D’Wayne Eskridge who had 10 receptions for 64 yards in 2021.

The deal should be a nice win-win opportunity for both sides: Goodwin getting another chance to contribute and Seattle getting a bit of bench depth for their wide receiver corps.

NFC Notes: Goodwin, Hunter, Murphy, Saints

June 26th, 2021 at 4:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marquise Goodwin‘s bid to make a second U.S. Olympic team failed Friday. The Bears wide receiver was unable to qualify for Sunday’s finals in the long jump, placing 19th out of 24 jumpers in the prelims at the U.S. Olympic trials. An Olympian in 2012, Goodwin has now fallen short of returning to the U.S. team in back-to-back trials. He placed seventh at the 2016 Rio-qualifying event. The 30-year-old’s best jump a 24-foot, 10-inch leap, was nearly three feet shy of his career-best mark — set at the 2012 trials. Goodwin falling short should not exactly surprise, given his focus on an NFL career in the years since the London Games. Although the veteran wideout met the Olympic standard at a March meet, he has been far from an active jumper during his NFL career. He can now transition to full-time football prep. Goodwin, who signed with the Bears in April, will now be on track to join his team on time for training camp.

Here is the latest from the NFC:

  • Danielle Hunter‘s reworked contract ended up creating nearly $4MM in cap space for the Vikings. The Pro Bowl defensive end’s adjusted deal dropped his 2021 cap number from $17.25MM to $13.37MM, per Sports Talk 790’s Aaron Wilson (Twitter link). This pact added $9.45MM in total guarantees to Hunter’s contract, Wilson tweets. In 2022, Hunter’s base salary will drop to $1.4MM, per Wilson (on Twitter), with the $18MM roster bonus comprising most of his $26.1MM cap figure. The Vikings also included a $1MM sack-based incentive for their top pass rusher.
  • The Cardinals lost All-Decade cornerback Patrick Peterson, a 10-year starter, in free agency. Fellow 2020 Arizona boundary starter Dre Kirkpatrick is gone as well. However, the Cards want to keep top holdover Byron Murphy primarily in the slot, Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com notes. GM Steve Keim called Murphy one of the league’s top inside defenders earlier this year, and the former second-round pick fared much better in 2020 than he did as a rookie in ’19. Murphy’s snap rate, however, dropped from 98% in 2019 to 72% last season. The Cards also signed Darqueze Dennard this offseason; Dennard mostly played in the slot with the Bengals. It will be interesting to see how DC Vance Joseph deploys Murphy, whom he called his top corner, in the Washington product’s third season.
  • The Saints‘ starting lineup received some shakeups this offseason, most notably at quarterback. But Taysom Hill and/or Jameis Winston are still set to play behind one of the NFL’s top offensive lines. However, the Saints may be considering a change up front. Upon selecting Cesar Ruiz in last year’s first round, the Saints originally planned to play him at center and move incumbent Erik McCoy to right guard, per Larry Holder of The Athletic. But McCoy’s play at center through two seasons prompted New Orleans to leave him there. While a switch may still be a consideration, Holder expects the two blockers to stay put for now (subscription required). McCoy has been a quality center, but Pro Football Focus ranked Ruiz 64th among guards last season.

Bears’ Marquise Goodwin In Long Jump Field At U.S. Olympic Trials

June 25th, 2021 at 2:53pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marquise Goodwin signed with the Bears in April and is vying for one of Chicago’s receiver spots following a 2020 opt-out. The veteran wide receiver will also attempt to capture a spot on the U.S. Olympic team Friday afternoon.

A 2012 Olympian in the long jump, Goodwin will compete for a spot at the Tokyo Games in the event. The long jump competition at the U.S. trials in Eugene, Ore., begins at 3:30pm CT. Goodwin missed out on the Rio Games in 2016, finishing in seventh at the trials. He placed 10th in London nine years ago.

Despite Goodwin’s NFL standing not being what it was when he last attempted to make an Olympic team, Bears coaches were behind his bid to make this year’s squad, Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune notes. Goodwin, 30, last made the U.S. team in the long jump while at Texas but missed out ahead of his final Bills season.

This year, Goodwin jumped the Olympic standard at a meet in March. That mark of 8.12 meters (26 feet, 6 inches) is tied for 25th in the world this year, but it ranks eighth among American long jumpers. The top three finishers today qualify for the U.S. team. Goodwin is part of a 24-jumper field in Eugene. That group includes two jumpers — reigning Olympic champ Jeff Henderson and LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison — who have eclipsed Goodwin’s career-best jump (8.33 meters, set at the 2012 trials) this season.

Should the 5-foot-9 wideout make his second Olympic team, he will be late to Bears training camp. The Tokyo Games begin July 23; the long jump competition is scheduled for August 2. The Bears begin camp July 27. Goodwin joins Damiere Byrd as veteran newcomers aiming to make Chicago’s 53-man roster; the Bears also used a sixth-round pick on Dazz Newsome. Goodwin’s one-year deal comes in barely north of the league minimum, but the Bears did guarantee him $350K.

Seahawks Had Interest In WR Marquise Goodwin

April 17th, 2021 at 11:56am CST by Ben Levine

Before he ended up joining the Bears, wideout Marquise Goodwin received some interest from one of his former team’s top rivals. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports (via Twitter) that the Seahawks were interested in adding the veteran receiver.

Following a four-year stint with the Bills to start his career, Goodwin put his name on the map once he joined the 49ers. He had a breakout season in 2017, hauling in 56 receptions for 962 yards and two touchdowns. The receiver’s production dropped off in 2018 and 2019, and after getting traded to the Eagles last offseason, Goodwin opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns.

The Seahawks are plenty familiar with the 30-year-old; Goodwin has played in five career games against the Niners’ division rival, hauling in 12 catches for 154 yards. Had Goodwin joined Seattle, he would have had to battle for reps behind starters D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, although Fowler notes that the Seahawks are content rolling with Freddie Swain as that “complementary piece.” The 2020 sixth-rounder hauled in a pair of touchdowns during his rookie campaign.

Instead of joining Seattle, Goodwin ultimately joined the Bears. We learned yesterday that the veteran inked a one-year deal with Chicago.

Bears Sign WR Marquise Goodwin

April 16th, 2021 at 6:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

Marquise Goodwin will be affiliated with a third team this offseason. After seeing his rights sent from the Eagles back to the 49ers, the veteran wide receiver became a free agent. The Bears will end that stay.

The former Olympian agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Bears on Friday. Goodwin has not played since the 2019 season, having opted out in 2020.

While Goodwin was part of San Francisco’s Super Bowl LIV-qualifying squad, he did not hold a regular role. The 49ers reduced his offensive responsibilities before placing him on IR then traded him to the Eagles during the 2020 draft.

The 49ers gave Goodwin a three-year, $20.3MM deal in March 2018 but ended up regretting the pact. The Eagles sent the 49ers to the Eagles in a pick-swap trade involving 2020 sixth-rounders. When Goodwin reverted back to the 49ers in March, San Francisco sent a 2021 seventh-rounder back to Philly. After spending a month in free agency, the 30-year-old wideout will join the Bears’ Allen Robinson-led receiving corps.

Months after qualifying for the London Games in the long jump, the 5-foot-9 wideout blazed to a 4.27-second 40-yard dash time at the 2013 Combine. He went to the Bills in the third round. The ex-Texas Longhorn has shown flashes as a receiver, most notably during a 962-yard 2017 slate that did not involve Jimmy Garoppolo until late in the season, and has some experience as a kick returner. Despite Goodwin’s speed, however, he has not returned a kick since the 2015 season.

This move comes nearly a year after the Bears signed Ted Ginn, a fellow speedster with 49ers experience. Ginn, however, did not play a big role on Chicago’s offense and did not last the season in the Windy City. The Bears have Robinson, Darnell Mooney and Anthony Miller positioned as their top three wideouts. However, Miller may still be on the trade block.

49ers To Release Marquise Goodwin

March 17th, 2021 at 3:37pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Marquise Goodwin‘s return trip to San Francisco didn’t last long. The 49ers have released the receiver, a source told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports (Twitter link).

In a bizarre transaction, we heard yesterday that Goodwin was reverting back to the 49ers from the Eagles per the terms of the trade they completed last year. At the time we heard Goodwin wasn’t long for the 49ers, and that turned out to be an understatement. Goodwin was dealt to Philly in a late-round pick swap last year, but opted out of the 2020 season and never played a down for the Eagles.

Goodwin had a breakout 2017 season with the 49ers after four years in Buffalo, when he erupted for 962 yards on only 56 catches for a 17.2 yards/reception average. That earned him a three-year, $20.3MM extension the following offseason, but things went downhill quickly after that.

He struggled with injuries the next two seasons, and was a disappointment when on the field, quickly getting buried on the depth chart. The Texas product with blazing speed turned 30 in November and will now hit a free agent market that hasn’t been too kind to wideouts so far.

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