Hunter Goodwin now tackling real estate, charitable works

by | Feb 3, 2012 | Where are they now

Hunter Goodwin’s NFL career was not glamorous. He caught just 37 passes and two touchdowns while playing eight seasons as a tight end for Minnesota and Miami. But he stayed in the league for eight years by focusing on being a team player and doing the important, often-unrecognized dirty work in the trenches that made his team’s offense better.

He gained so much respect for his efforts that teammates and coaches often referred to him as a sixth offensive lineman. And ESPN analyst Merril Hoge in 2000 reportedly called Goodwin the best blocking tight end in the league, saying he could block any defensive end without assistance.

Goodwin’s journey to the NFL began with with Texas A&M-Kingsville. He then walked on to the football team at Texas A&M. He starred there for two years as an All-Southwest Conference offensive tackle. And when Goodwin left, he was on his way toward an agricultural economics degree and a he had earned a shot with the Vikings.

Goodwin attributes his success in the NFL to grit and determination. He’s working just as hard in the decade-plus since he left football behind, establishing himself as a player in the real estate industry and filling his time with several community- and charity-based endeavors. Goodwin recently took some time with Zoneblitz.com to reflect on his football days and give an update on how what he’s been doing since moving on from the game.

Zoneblitz: You’re the president of Oldham Goodwin Group (he along with partner Casey Oldham, another Texas A&M graduate, were co-honored by the Better Business Bureau in 2010 as “boss of the year”). What is your company’s focus and what is your role?

Hunter Goodwin: My company’s focus us summed up in our mission statement: Maximize value creation for all stakeholders by providing integrated commercial real estate services to select market segments.  We have a distinct accessible expertise and connection with our target markets. (more…)

Comparing likely Hall of Famers: Brown, Carter & Reed

by | Jan 28, 2012 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

We’re getting close to learning who the 2012 inductees will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August. Much of the discussion on one of our other Hall of Fame posts revolves around which of the three wide receiver finalists — or whether any of them — will get chosen for the honor this season.

Four-time finalist Andre Reed seems to have gained the most momentum, based on his near miss last season. Three-time finalist Cris Carter and one-time finalist Tim Brown are the other two wideouts in the mix for this year’s honor.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Website did a comparison of these three players and how they fared up against the other 21 wideouts already enshrined in Canton, Ohio. But I wanted to do some analysis of my own.

Let me start with this. All three of these guys had great careers and they definitely are strong candidates, at least in the eyes of Zoneblitz. They all would be in the top five in receiving yards, touchdowns and receptions among receivers already in the Hall. Even as we move into a heavy passing era, Reed, Carter and Brown all continue to match up strongly with the other candidates they’ll be compared with in the near future.

But as the competition gets stronger in the years ahead, as guys like Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Terrell Owens and a host of others retire, it’s going to be more and more challenging for the current group of finalists to get in. That makes the voting over the next couple years that much more important. And frankly, after doing some analysis, I think the current wide receiver finalists might be gaining momentum in the wrong order.

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In depth: Minnesota Vikings

by | Jan 14, 2012 | 2011 season, 2012 season, NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

Many people thought the Minnesota Vikings were in for a tough 2011 season long before it kicked off in September against San Diego. But not quite so many saw the bottom completely falling out from underneath a team that was seconds away from going to the Super Bowl just two years ago.

The challenges get bigger in 2012, as well, with Adrian Peterson recuperating from an ACL tear and gaping holes on the offensive line and in the secondary. Dan Zinski, lead writer at TheVikingAge.com, took some time to share his insights on what went wrong in 2011 and where the team should go from here.

Zoneblitz: I think most people went into the season expecting the Vikings to have their issues in 2011, but I don’t know that many saw 3-13 coming. What made this whole thing fall apart? (more…)

Forte equal to Peterson? Not even close

by | Jul 20, 2011 | NFL Random Thoughts

Sometimes sports statisticians find new measurements that shed light on players in ways that old numbers never did.

Sometimes they try a little too hard.

The latter happened today to KC Joyner, who calls himself the Football Scientist, when he tried to convince himself that Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte “stacks up evenly with” the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson.

Now, are there things Forte does better than Peterson? Yes. He is a better receiver out of the backfield. Forte has 51, 57 and 63 catches in his three seasons. Peterson is not terrible catching the ball, with 119 catches in four years, but I would give the Bear the nod in that area.

I’m not an expert in pass blocking either, but the Vikings routinely remove Peterson from games on third downs. Joyner claims Forte is a better blocker. Some seem to agree he prevented Jay Cutler from getting killed at times. I haven’t seen enough to judge so I’ll concede the point (though at least some seem to feel Forte and his fellow backs could improve in this area).

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Webb, Skelton, others show some teams still lack QB answers

by | Jan 3, 2011 | NFL Random Thoughts

A week and change ago, Joe Webb and John Skelton were leading their teams, the Vikings and the Cardinals, to upset wins over Philadelphia and Arizona. Both played well, minimized mistakes and had some local and national pundits announcing their teams had solved their searches for quarterbacks of the future.

One radio host – I didn’t catch his name and I don’t know if he was a local guy at ESPN-1500 AM in Minnesota or national guy for ESPN Radio – told listeners this morning that Webb should be awarded the position because he is athletic and because he has the “it” factor. Terry Bradshaw on Fox this morning also seemed to indicate that he was a believer.

I enjoyed watching Webb and Skelton last week in nationally televised games. And both have a chance to be decent quarterbacks. But their respective performances today in losses for both of their teams were illustrative that A) rookie quarterbacks have their ups and downs and B) one game is not enough to anoint them as their franchise saviors. (more…)