Marquise Goodwin won't make an appearance on the track in Rio after all. The Buffalo Bills wide receiver came up short in his comeback to track and field, failing to qualify for the US Olympic Team with a seventh place finish in the Olympic Trials. Goodwin barely squeaked into the finals of the event, finishing two inches ahead of the first cut athlete for the twelfth and final spot. Needing a third place finish to qualify for the Olympics, Goodwin wasn't able to separate from the rest of his competitors.
The winning distance was a personal-best 8.59 meter jump by Jeff Henderson. Goodwin's best distance was an 8.25, which placed him in seventh. The third place distance of 8.42 meters was challenging enough for Goodwin; he had only eclipsed that value once in his jumping career.
Goodwin spent the offseason training for track and field with his coach's blessing, but it was also putting his football life at risk: Entering his final contract year, with 24 games played and 20 receptions, Goodwin needs to show an impact on the gridiron to avoid being cut from the roster. Goodwin should be in attendance at training camp in the best shape of his life (albeit with a body built to run track).
Although Goodwin didn't make the cut this time, he is still a celebrated global competitor in the long jump event. He qualified for the 2012 Olympics with a jump of 8.33 meters at the trials, which would have been long enough to win the gold medal at that year's Games. He made it Olympic finals, but finished in a disappointing tenth place. Goodwin began training seriously for track again in 2015, and he won the silver medal at this year's Pan-Am games. He set his personal best mark of 8.45 meters at the 2016 Meeting Region Guadeloupe. His wife Morgan is competing to take part in the 100-meter hurdles, and there are a few other athletes with NFL connections expected to compete this year: Jeff Demps and Jahvid Best as runners, and Nate Ebner and Jarryd Hayne in rugby.