San Francisco 49ers: Who is wide receiver Marquise Goodwin?

Niner Noise’s annual “Who Is?” series on San Francisco 49ers players in 2017 continues with an offseason evaluation of free-agent pickup, wide receiver Marquise Goodwin.

One of the major efforts from San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch this offseason was to revamp the team’s wide receiver corps.

The big addition, of course, was veteran receiver Pierre Garcon. But an equally interesting move was to bring in fellow free-agent wideout Marquise Goodwin.

Goodwin, 26 years old, is a four-year veteran with 49 career receptions for 780 yards and six touchdowns.

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/28/2017.

While the numbers may not be that impressive, there’s one attribute separating the former track star from just another average receiver — speed.

It’s something head coach Kyle Shanahan covets and will likely use this upcoming season.

Why He’ll Improve

It doesn’t take much to notice Goodwin hasn’t exactly wowed on the stat chart. But don’t let that fool you.

Goodwin’s speed is something worth considering here. He ran a blazing 4.27 40-time during the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine, and he’s still at an age where that unteachable weapon can be used to great effect.

We should expect Shanahan to be the kind of head coach capable of maximizing Goodwin’s potential.

Goodwin is one of the new Niners receivers capable of taking the top off a defense, opening up more opportunity for targets, like Garcon, to get better chances.

While San Francisco may not regularly feature Goodwin as a top-two target, he should get his chances. Shanahan’s scheme does enough to scheme players to get open, and it’s easy enough for Goodwin to get separation based off speed alone.

Why He’ll Regress

Injuries have played a factor in Goodwin’s career thus far, and he’s managed to play in just 39 games over a four-year stretch.

An apparent hamstring injury, per the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s Grant Cohn, in the first week of OTAs doesn’t bode well here.

Why this matters is because Goodwin can’t win — see what I did there? — based on his size or physicality alone. He stands at only 5-foot-9 and weighs in at 179 pounds, which isn’t ideal for an outside receiver. Out of the slot, maybe, but not against bigger-bodied cornerbacks.

So if speed isn’t a think Goodwin can regularly rely upon, health as the question, we could see a relatively disappointing year from San Francisco’s offseason pickup.

What to Expect in 2017

With the 49ers likely to employ Jeremy Kerley as the team’s slot receiver, Goodwin probably starts opposite Garcon as the team’s No. 2 receiving option.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer isn’t exactly known for having a cannon of an arm, so don’t expect the downfield opportunities to be aplenty.

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The best-case scenario would be for Goodwin to stay healthy and force defenses to stay deep, thus allowing receiving targets like Garcon to become major parts of Shanahan’s offense. But the fact Goodwin hasn’t been able to stay on the field regularly over the course of a full season is concerning.

It’s likely Goodwin misses a number of games over the course of the year. But this isn’t bad in of itself, as it would open up more chances for rookie wideout Trent Taylor to see some snaps.

Next: 49ers film room: Who should start at quarterback in 2017?

But San Francisco would probably prefer Goodwin to be a bigger part of the picture.