In four NFL seasons, Mike Goodson has totaled 160 carries for 722 yards and three touchdowns, with seven fumbles. Those aren’t exactly the kinds of numbers that would seem to justify the three-year, $6.9 million contract the Jets gave him this offseason.
And that’s before we get into his off-field problems.
Goodson was arrested last week on drug and weapons charges, and that kind of issue arising apparently came as no surprise from NFL people who knew Goodson’s background. ESPNNewYork.com quotes a scout from another team saying of the Jets, “Do these guys do background checks?” The Jets say they do, in fact, investigate players before signing them, although they declined to comment specifically on Goodson’s past.
That past, according to ESPN, includes a slew of lawsuits over everything from child support to repeated failure to pay his rent to refusing to pay the bill after buying jewelry on credit to skipping his car payments.
Goodson has been sued by three different women for child support for a total of six children he fathered with them. He also didn’t pay a $56,465 bill at a jewelry store, and after the store sued him, the amount he owed was garnished from his Raiders paychecks. And when Goodson was playing for the Panthers, he failed to pay his rent so often that he was sued for it three times and received two eviction notices. Goodson was also sued by a man who sold him a $49,000 Mercedes and said Goodson didn’t make the payments.
So either the Jets knew all that about Goodson and wanted him anyway, or they signed him without fully exploring his background. It’s tough to say which would be worse.