Value.
Right now, folks are stressed over the loss of Bucs All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs. Understandably.
Wirfs plays the game’s third-most important position (per the late personnel guru Gil Brandt). He’s going to be out who knows how long? Yeah, there’s reason to lie awake at night.
Wirf’s sudden surgery has pushed aside the nervousness of Bucs fans about Pro Bowl receiver Chris Godwin and when he will return.
Last we saw of Godwin, he was working with trainers on a side field at underwear football practice. The time before that, we saw Godwin offer remarks about his new contract.
Godwin allegedly turned down serious creepy Bob Kraft loot to stay with the Bucs (whew). And Seth Walder of BSPN, a guy who never met a number he didn’t like, believes that the Bucs are paying Godwin [a fair wage](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/4590070/nfl-offseason-grades-2025-free-agency-draft-trades-extensions-coaching-changes).
Like many, including Joe, we saw what Godwin can do when used right last year. Godwin was on fire before his wrecked ankle against the Crows.
Walder said it’s too easy to use that short stretch as Godwin’s norm.
> The biggest move was keeping Godwin. The 29-year-old was scorching hot in the seven games he played in 2024 — averaging 2.5 yards per route run — before a dislocated left ankle knocked him out for the season.
>
> I think it’s important to not overweight that seven-game sample (we have a much larger sample of Godwin being good but not elite), but the Bucs didn’t pay him elite money. His three-year deal cost $22 million per year (with $44 million fully guaranteed), which is a fair amount but a bit off the pace of the game’s best No. 2 receivers. It made sense to bring him back at that price.
Joe thinks Walder made an important point. Was that seven-game stretch an outlier? Perhaps. Consider what Walder didn’t point out.
Godwin did this with Liam Coen calling the shots on offense. Coen is gone. Joe’s not saying Godwin couldn’t match his 2024 output with Coen’s successor Josh Grizzard. We just don’t know, as none of us knows, what Grizzard can or will do.
Outside of Bucco Bruce Arians, Coen is easily the best offensive coordinator this franchise has ever had. Awfully hard to duplicate that the year after the architect of that offense leaves.
So Joe thinks Walder is onto something. Joe’s not saying Godwin won’t be productive. Joe fully expects Godwin to be his top-shelf self.
Just that, it may be a bit too high of an expectation to bank on Godwin to repeat his 2024 output.