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Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin spent his 2021 campaign with the Chicago Bears, playing in 14 games and starting two.
The 31-year-old veteran wideout has played for three different NFL teams, beginning his career as a third-round pick for the Buffalo Bills in 2013, where he spent his first four seasons in the league. Goodwin signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 2017, and he played with them for three years, until 2019.
After announcing on his YouTube channel he was opting out of the 2020 season due to concerns about playing during the COVID-19 pandemic with a young child, Goodwin returned to football in 2021, signing a one-year deal which Chicago in April 2021.
Goodwin remains a free agent so far this offseason, and the Bears presumably aren’t bringing him back. The speedy wideout recently decided to take to Twitter to clarify his playing status, and he also included a reminder for those wondering if he’s still a threat on the field.
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Goodwin on Twitter: ‘No, I’m not Retired’
“No, I’m not retired,” the veteran receiver tweeted on April 18, presumably in response to fans or others assuming he may be hanging up his cleats. After eight seasons, 89 games, 42 starts, 160 receptions, 2,636 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns, it’s easy to understand why some might be wondering whether he’ll play again in 2022.
For interested teams and/or those wondering whether he has lost a step, Goodwin added this wrinkle in a subsequent tweet: “Just a free agent and still faster than your favorite DB.”
Goodwin’s speed is no joke, and even if he has lost a step, he’s still one of the faster and more athletic veteran wideouts in the league. He ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine back in 2013, the fastest time of any WR that year, and he also made the 2012 United States Olympic long jump team.
He tried again to qualify for the finals in the long jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the summer of 2021, but he was unsuccessful.
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Goodwin Had a ‘Challenging’ Lone Season in Chicago
Goodwin’s only season in the Windy City came in at bad time, as it was also the final year of former head coach Matt Nagy’s four-year tenure with the team. Nagy was fired at season’s end after putting together one of the more lackluster offenses in recent memory. The Bears averaged just 188.6 yards passing per game last year, third-worst in the league, and it was a season that felt doomed from the get-go.
After Chicago suffered a 34-14 loss to the L.A. Rams Week 1, Goodwin voiced displeasure with the team’s offensive game plan, noting it often played into the Rams and All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s hands.
“It’s challenging, but you’ve just gotta work with what you’re getting,” Goodwin said after the defeat, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t control the plays that are called. I don’t control anything but just going out there and doing my job and I just do it the best that I know how: fast.”
The Bears finished with 188 net passing yards in the loss.
It’ll be interesting to see where Goodwin, who finished with 20 catches for 313 yards and a touchdown and his lone season with the Bears, lands next. Clearly, he’s still ready to contribute somewhere.
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