49ers sign wide receiver Marquise Goodwin to 3-year contract extension

First, they locked up Jimmy Garoppolo. Now, they’ve locked up his favorite target.

On Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers signed wide receiver Marquise Goodwin to a three-year, $20.3 million contract extension through 2021. The deal includes $10 million guaranteed.

“From the minute Marquise joined our team, he has shown us everything we want to see in a 49er,” general manager John Lynch said in a written statement.

“He leads by example with a tremendous work ethic, a trait that helped him expand his repertoire as a football player and post his most successful season as a pro last year. Marquise earned this extension by coming in every day focused on doing his job and, as a result, he made himself and his teammates better.”

Goodwin, 27, played college football at Texas, where he never had more than 220 receiving yards in a season.

The Buffalo Bills took him in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft. Goodwin spent four years with the Bills, started only 10 games and never had more than 421 receiving yards in a season. He was their third receiver, a third banana to Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins.

Since college, Goodwin always was a deep threat who ran only a limited variety of pass routes. At the NFL scouting combine, he ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash - the fifth-fastest time in the history of the event. And in 2012, he was an Olympic long jumper. He was known for athleticism, not skill as a receiver.

But the 49ers saw potential in him as an all-around receiver.

When they signed him in 2017, they gave him a two-year, $8 million contract, and made him a starter. He played all 16 games, caught 56 passes and gained 962 receiving yards - more than either Woods or Watkins gained in 2017.

“I always believed that I had more to give,” Goodwin said Thursday on a conference call with Bay Area reporters. “For whatever reason, I was just in a situation where I had to deal with what I had. I landed in a better position when I came to the 49ers, which is why I came. I knew (head coach) Kyle (Shanahan) would put me in a position to be successful.

“He and John have done an outstanding job of allowing guys to flourish. And I see what Kyle has done with many other receivers in his system. I knew coming here would be my best fit.

“This offense is good for me in the sense that it allows me to be a football player. It gives me an opportunity to be out there and make plays, and that’s what you want in a scheme.

“And it’s not just me. Everybody gets to shine. That’s what’s good about (Shanahan’s) offense. It’s not a one-man wrecking crew, not one guy making it happen. It’s a lot of guys getting opportunities to make plays.

“I can come in and make a play. After me, you can put in Aldrick Robinson. He can make the same type of plays. I’m just grateful that I get to play with guys like that, and in a system that is not based off of one person.

“I’m really blessed and fortunate. It could have all ended after Buffalo. Or, I could have been put in a worse situation and not had this year. A lot of things could have went wrong.”

But they went right. Like when the 49ers traded for Garoppolo on October 30.

Garoppolo became the starting quarterback and Goodwin instantly became the 49ers’ No. 1 ?receiver. During the five games Garoppolo was at quarterback, Goodwin averaged 76.8 receiving yards per game, which would have ranked ninth- best in the NFL over the course of an entire season, just behind Patriots All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“I still believe he can be more,” Shanahan said during Goodwin’s late-season tear. “And I think his ceiling is extremely high. He has the speed that scares people. His hands are much better than people realize. He’s a tough guy who’s not scared to compete and scared to go over the middle.

“I think he’s getting a lot of experience this year that he’s never had before. I think so much of this league is how you respond to things. Sometimes people get a lot of experience, and they struggle a little bit, and they get worse because they get intimidated by the situation. It’s a little too much pressure.

“I think ‘Quise has gone the other way. I think the pressure has hit. He’s realized it. He’s had some weeks where he didn’t do his best, and I think he has fought through it and I think he’s playing his best right now. Hopefully, that will lead into next year. I’m really hoping he continues to get better next year.”

With this new three-year contract, the 49ers are betting on it.