RENTON — If, at age 31, Seahawks receiver Marquise Goodwin says he’s still as fast as the days when he was an All-American track athlete at Texas, what he’s learned the past few years is to slow down and take in everything good that happens in life.
That was a lesson reinforced to Goodwin through an experience as unimaginably difficult as any — the loss with his wife, Morgan, of three children due to complications around the 19-week mark of each pregnancy. A son in 2017. Twin boys in 2018. To bring awareness to the issue, the couple has openly talked about — including via a YouTube channel — Morgan being diagnosed with an incompetent cervix.
As Goodwin detailed in a 2021 story on The Players’ Tribune, Morgan, also a former track star at Texas, eventually had a procedure called a transabdominal cerclage. And the couple has since welcomed two children — a daughter, Marae, in 2020 and a son, Marquise Jr., this spring.
“My family is beautiful, man,” Goodwin said recently.
And while it might seem trite to compare that journey to football, Goodwin said the tragedies inevitably reshaped his attitudes on every facet of his life.
“One hundred percent, man,” he said. “I take advantage of every opportunity because you never know when it’s going to be your last play, your last day to live, whatever. So I treat every day like it might be the last and just go hard whenever I get the chance, and I’m just grateful.”
And when it comes to football, anyway, maybe never as much as Sunday in Los Angeles when Goodwin showed that while he might be old by NFL years — he turns 32 next month and is the fifth-oldest player on the Seahawks roster — he hasn’t lost a step.
Goodwin, who along with being a four-year member of the football team at Texas was a two-time NCAA champion in the long jump and finished 10th in that event at the 2012 Olympics, caught two touchdown passes against the Chargers to spur Seattle to a 37-23 win.
On each, his Olympic-level track ability was on display. On the first, he simply ran past Charger cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., on a go route for a 20-yard TD in the first quarter. In the second quarter, he sprinted past cornerback J.C. Jackson for a similar-looking 23-yard score.
“He can fly,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said this week of Goodwin, who ran a 4.27 40 at the NFL combine in 2013. “I don’t think he has lost any speed. He is as fast as anybody that we have on the field.”
Asked during training camp if he felt he was still fast as ever, Goodwin responded incredulously.
“What do you think?” Goodwin said. “You seen me running at practice?”
Then he smiled.
“Yeah, I’m still fast.”
That’s what the Seahawks were looking for when they signed him May 23.
Goodwin played last year with the Bears after opting out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
After his contract lapsed, Goodwin said he had to endure “the waiting game” for a few months.
“Had a few teams interested,” he said. “Just trying to decide the best fit.”
Two factors that swayed him to Seattle were the presence of longtime friend Quandre Diggs, a teammate at Texas, and Sanjay Lal, the Seahawks offensive passing game coordinator and receivers coach.
Diggs, who was also close to Morgan at Texas, was a constant supporter during Goodwin’s tragedies, and he and his family have remained close with Goodwin’s.
“Being his teammate again, it means a lot,” Goodwin said.
Said Diggs: “They’re just resilient people, both of them. Super resilient, tough situations and they both fought through it. I know they still have scars. I mean we all do, and it’s just the positive mindset that they always continue to have. The care that they have for people.”
Lal was also Goodwin’s receivers coach with the Buffalo Bills in 2015 and 2016, where Goodwin began his career as a third-round pick in 2013.
“I always knew Seattle was going to be the answer for me,” Goodwin said. “Sanjay played a big role in that. … It was comforting to play with someone who recognized my skill set and appreciated it, so I wanted to come play with him again.”
Carroll said the Seahawks were “thinking of drafting him in 2013″ and that Lal vouching for Goodwin led to them wanting to take a chance on him now — Goodwin signed a low-risk deal with Seattle, a minimum-salary, one-year contract worth up to $1.12 million.
“I don’t want to ever turn away guys that run that fast,” Carroll said. “He’s one of the reasons that I say to you that this was the fastest that we have ever been. He’s one of those guys that makes us that way.”
But Goodwin says his game isn’t all about speed.
He said he’s glad he’s shown the durability to last nine years in the NFL and move past “the stigma that track guys usually aren’t tough and don’t last in a contact sport.”
And he says his track background shows up in other ways, specifically his long-jumping ability.
“Being able to put my foot down in long jump at the board, it allows me to stop on a dime when it comes to football on a route,’’ Goodwin said.
Goodwin missed all three preseason games with a hamstring injury and then was inactive against New Orleans with knee/back issues.
But healthy the past two weeks, he has six catches for 93 yards and the two TDs.
And Goodwin now might be called on for an even bigger role than as the third receiver if DK Metcalf has to miss any time with a knee injury suffered in the first quarter against the Chargers — Goodwin’s 38 snaps against the Chargers were his most as a Seahawk.
“If he gets considerably more playing time, we are going to use him for the things that he does well,” Carroll said. “He had a great game last week. He came through in extraordinary fashion. I don’t feel like we talked about him enough. It’s just getting us warmed up. He has a lot more that he can do.”
What Goodwin has also become is something of a victory cigar.
As he did for the season-opening win against Denver, Goodwin punctuated the victory against the Chargers with a back flip as Smith took the handoff for one final kneel down, though if he really has to take on a greater role with Metcalf out, that might be a job he has to hand to someone else.
“Usually the younger guys do [that],” Goodwin said. “But I’ve got a little different role on the team now, so I got a little more energy to hit some back flips at the end of the game when we win.”
Showing, at least, that he also still has the same spring in his step as ever.