San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has had a fantastic season on the football field, especially since Jimmy Garoppolo was named the starting quarterback.
After averaging 2.5 catches and 52.5 receiving yards in each of the 49ers' first 11 games, Goodwin's average has jumped to eight catches and 106 receiving yards per game with Garoppolo throwing him passes. That is triple the catches per game and double the receiving yards. Goodwin now sits at 897 receiving yards this season and is on the cusp of his first career 1,000-yard season.
Since Week 13, which was Garoppolo's first start with the 49ers, Goodwin has been Pro Football Focus' seventh-highest rated wide receiver. He has just two drops in his 26 catchable passes during that timespan and is tied for first among wide receivers with Mike Wallace of the Baltimore Ravens in yards per route run.
"With Jimmy G back there just making plays and being patient and trusting us down field, it's definitely allowed our offense to flourish," Goodwin said on Friday via the Mercury News.
While Goodwin has had a great year on the football field, he has faced a great deal of adversity off of the field. Just hours before the 49ers' Week 10 matchup against the New York Giants, his pregnant wife, Morgan, faced complications and had to deliver the baby prematurely. Their child did not survive.
Not only was Goodwin on the football field with his teammates hours later, but he scored a tone-setting 83-yard touchdown in what would become the 49ers' first win of the season.
During the week that preceded this past Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans, Goodwin's biological father passed away. The receiver played in that game as well and registered a single-game career-high 10 receptions for 114 yards.
"Going into the games and dealing with what I've gone through, I really didn't think I had the mental capacity to pull through," Goodwin said. "But I honestly believed in God and trusted in him to bring me through the situation. I've got goose pimples because it's true."
Goodwin also explained why he has been wearing all white since he and his wife lost their child last month.
"The white symbolizes my growing period," Goodwin said via Joe Fann of 49ers.com. "When we lost our child, I wanted to challenge my mind to keep focused on something else. ... It keeps me from feeling sorry for myself. It helps me through this."
On Friday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said he is impressed with Goodwin's ability to play and do so at a high level despite what he has faced off the field.
"Everyone handles that stuff differently," Shanahan said. "I don't think there is any right way or wrong way. It's just how each individual handles that stuff. He's been through a lot of stuff this year. He's been through a number of things that people hope to not go through their whole life. It's happened a lot, really, in the last couple of months.
"For that to happen, how he's just handled himself with the guys, around the building, it's been very impressive. And the fact that, through it all, not only has it not taken away from his game, I feel like he's become a better player over that time also.
"It's been just a huge credit to him and extremely impressive."
What is Shanahan's philosophy when dealing with players who are facing tragedy as Goodwin has?
"I think anytime it comes to, especially death and things like that, the head coach's role is to tell the player it's up to him," Shanahan said. "Everyone handles that stuff differently. Some people, they're adamant they have to play, and they want to do that maybe for the person who passed. And then some people are adamant that they can't play out of respect and there's stuff that's a lot more important than football. I can understand both sides, and I don't know how I would be until I'm in that situation.
"However someone acts, you have to respect that and let them handle that situation whatever they think is right for them."
