Goodwin, who ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, brings a speed element the Bears have been searching for all offseason.
The Bears brought in their first new face at receiver this offseason Friday when they signed former 49ers standout and Olympian Marquise Goodwin to a one-year contract on Friday.
Goodwin, who ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, brings a speed element the Bears have been searching for all offseason.
The 30-year-old is expected to compete for a roster spot as a field-stretching wideout in a receiving room that has remained mostly unchanged since last season. The Bears gave Allen Robinson the franchise tag last month, locking him in for one more year. They could still trade Anthony Miller, the mercurial slot receiver entering his fourth season, by draft day. Miller, infamously, was ejected from the Bears’ playoff game for fighting.
They could pick a college receiver at the end of the month, too.
The 5-9 Goodwin sat out last season because of coronavirus concerns. In the three previous seasons, he started 36 games for the 49ers, totaling 91 catches for 1,543 yards and seven touchdowns. His best season came in 2017, when he caught 56 passes for 962 yards.
The 49ers traded Goodwin to the Eagles last offseason in a swap of sixth-round draft picks. The Eagles returned him to San Francisco in March; because he’d opted out in 2020, the terms of the trade weren’t met. The 49ers sent the Eagles a seventh-round draft pick instead.
The third-round pick out of Texas spent his first four seasons with the Bills. He has 22 kick returns to his name, though none since 2015. The Bears lost their returner earlier this week when Cordarrelle Patterson signed with the Falcons.
Goodwin won the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the long jump to reach the Olympics; in London later that year, he finished 10th in the event. He was a two-time NCAA long-time champion at Texas.
