He never suited up for the Philadelphia Eagles and now he’s trading in his football jersey for a track suit. Marquise Goodwin has re-joined the long-jumping circuit in pursuit of earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Goodwin, who opted out of the 2020 NFL season, reverted back to the San Francisco 49ers on March 16 as a condition of his original trade to Philly. There were no hard feelings. The Eagles just needed to get younger at wide receiver. Well, the 49ers released the 30-year-old speedster and he recently landed an 8.12-meter jump in the sixth and final round at the Florida International “Pro Addition,” per NBC Sports Bay Area. He placed first and won the event.
This wasn’t the first foray into track-and-field competitions for Goodwin who finished 10th in the men’s long jump at the 2012 London Olympics. Unfortunately, Goodwin’s seventh-place finish at the Olympic trials in 2016 wan’t quite good enough to send him to the Rio de Janeiro Games. Good to see he’s keeping the faith and doing well after prioritizing his family over playing football through a pandemic in 2020.
“I am asking everyone to respect my decision and it is my hope that you stay safe through these unprecedented times,” Goodwin said on Instagram last July. “It doesn’t mean that I don’t love football. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be an Eagle. It doesn’t mean anything than besides the fact that I’m protecting [my wife and daughter.] These are my pride and joy. I live for these two. I die for these two.”
Goodwin deserves a gold medal for this TD celebration.
[via @thecheckdown]
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NFL Passes 17-Game Schedule: Eagles vs. Jets
The NFL officially pushed through the proposed 17-game regular-season schedule on Tuesday. The extra game was set forth as part of the new collective bargaining agreement ratified last March. That means an extra game for every team in the league, specifically a road trip to face the New York Jets for the Eagles.
Roger Goodell said the plan is to welcome back fans in 2021. “We want to see every one of our fans back,” Goodell said. “We expect to have full stadiums in the coming season.”
They now have eight homes games, with nine away contests. Dates and times for the 2021 schedule haven’t been announced yet. There will still be only one bye week and the season now begins on Sept. 9, 2021 and ends on Jan. 9, 2022. It’s the first time the NFL has altered their scheduling format since 1978.
“This is a monumental moment in NFL history,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “The CBA with the players and the recently completed media agreements provide the foundation for us to enhance the quality of the NFL experience for our fans.”
Tampa Bay’s Salary-Cap Situation
File this under interesting. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought back six key veterans in free agency: Chris Godwin, Leonard Fournette, Lavonte David, Shaq Barrett, Rob Gronkowski, and Ndamukong Suh. According to Spotrac, their combined 2021 dead-cap hit ($33.25 million) comes in under the $600,000 the Eagles are paying for Carson Wentz. The organization took on $33.8 million in dead-cap space by trading Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts.
“It’s a win-win trade: for them with the player they’re getting,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman told reporters on March 18, “and for us, the opportunity to not only get the picks but really to reset us going forward from a cap perspective.”
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