Chris Godwin
Getty
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin.
There is an interesting case of sliding doors when it comes to Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin.
Following the 2024 season — a year in which Godwin suffered a catastrophic leg injury in Week 7 — there was a bidding war over his services in free agency.
The New England Patriots, on a spending spree for the ages, reportedly offered Godwin a contract worth upwards of $90 million, and he turned it down to stay with the Buccaneers on a 3-year, $66 million contract.
The Patriots, forced to pivot, signed wide receiver Stefon Diggs on a 3-year, $65 million contract. He delivered a 1,000-yard receiving season, and the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl.
Godwin looked like a shell of himself. He missed 8 games as he continued to recover from his injury and posted career lows of 33 receptions, 360 yards, and 3 touchdowns.
It’s why Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon put Godwin at the top of his list of the NFL’s “Most Overpaid Players” after the 2026 free agency cycle.
“Right now, that three-year, $66 million extension from the 2025 offseason is looking silly, as Godwin might be the most overpaid player in the NFL considering his $33.7 million cap hit for 2026,” Gagnon wrote. “That ranks first among all wide receivers, which is a shame because the 30-year-old has failed to play in double-digit games in back-to-back seasons, and his productivity when healthy plummeted in 2025.”
One Injury Wiped Out 2 Seasons for Chris Godwin
It’s not accurate to say Godwin has back-to-back seasons with significant injuries — it’s 1 injury that essentially wiped out 2 seasons in his prime.
The Buccaneers, for some inexplicable reason, signed Godwin after he fractured his ankle, which cost him the final 10 games of the 2024 regular season and 8 games of the 2025 season. That’s 18 games — a complete regular season plus 1 — over the last 2 years alone.
The most confusing thing about Godwin’s struggles was that he never went on injured reserve to start the season, which he obviously should have. He returned in Week 4, but wasn’t fully recovered from his 2024 injury, then had to miss another 5 games.
It’s fair to ask some questions now as to what went wrong in what should have been a fairly straightforward process.
Questions like … why did the Buccaneers sign him for so much money? And what medical advice did the team and Godwin receive, from whom they received it, and why was it so inaccurate?