Browns hosting a veteran free agent WR

The Cleveland Browns made it through the first week of free agency without adding a wide receiver to the roster.

Now that the Browns and the NFL have entered the next phase, the pool of available players has shrunk, but the price tags have also seen a reduction, which leads to teams searching for “value” from the remaining talent pool.

This brings us to today and reports that the Browns have spent time this week meeting with free agent wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, according to Josina Anderson of CBS Sports:

The 32-year-old Goodwin has spent nine seasons in the NFL, starting with the Buffalo Bills in 2013, then moving on to the San Francisco 49ers in 2017, the Chicago Bears in 2021, and spending last season with the Seattle Seahawks.

Along the way he has appeared in 102 games, making 44 starts, and has 187 career receptions for 3,023 yards and 18 touchdowns.

A closer look at those numbers reveals that Goodwin has only exceeded 435 receiving yards in one of his nine seasons, which came in 2017 when he had a major outlier of 962 yards on a career-high 105 targets. He also only has a career catch rate of 51.7 percent, which feels like it could be somewhat problematic when your primary role is to catch the ball.

Goodwin’s biggest selling point appears to be that he ran a 4.27 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine - but that was in 2013! Which in NFL teams may as well be a lifetime ago.

Cleveland’s interest in Goodwin could be nothing more than the proverbial “kicking the tires” on a player that may or may not result in the ever-popular “low-risk/high reward one-year prove it” contract, but it does seem a bit odd to see a role for Goodwin on the team given his spotty career record.