No Need To Rush
February 17th, 2020
He will get his.
Before anyone tries to put words in Joe’s mouth (a favorite hobby of many who try to read between the lines that are between the lines), let’s be clear here.
Joe thinks the absolute world of Chris Godwin and wants him to be a long-time Bucs receiver.
Yet there are some out there who think it is absolutely necessary to redo Godwin’s contract. Now. Today.
Joe doesn’t get it. Take follicly-challenged Billy Barnwell of BSPN, a known spreadsheeter. He thinks one priority of Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is to give Godwin an extension.
Extend Chris Godwin. After a breakout season, the rising star receiver is entering the final year of his rookie deal. While the Bucs have already paid Mike Evans an enormous contract and Breshad Perriman had a massive game without Godwin during the fantasy postseason, the Bucs still have little choice but to pay the fourth-year wideout superstar money. Evans got $16.5 million per season when he signed his extension in 2018, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Godwin topped that mark on his new deal.
In theory, the Bucs could save cash on Godwin by re-signing him now. Players’ salaries never decrease. What is wildly expensive today is dirt cheap in three years. While Godwin always flashed as a part-time player under former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter, will Godwin blow up this fall and in future years like he did in 2019?
Godwin is sort of like the receiver version of Shaq Barrett who had a career-year 2019. Is that the real Shaq?
Besides, the CBA runs out after the 2020 season. Who knows what the salary cap will be in 2021 and beyond? It may be so large that Godwin’s future raise won’t be much of a blip on the salary cap radar.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:07 am
I agree.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:08 am
I agree that this is down the list of priorities. I don’t believe this season was an outlier for Godwin (hopefully not for Shaq either), but right now the biggest priority is keeping as much of the defense intact as possible. Then the decision about Jameis, which likely is all but made already. Then the rest of FA. Then the draft. After all this, there probably won’t be money left to pay Godwin this year. He really doesn’t strike me as the holdout type, so we can address it next off-season, but the price will probably go up considerably.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:24 am
“(a favorite hobby of many who try to read between the lines that are between the lines)” – an ironic comment, given the purpose of 80% of JBF content is to dissect\infer the statements behind the statements people on the team or analyzing the team. What a gross mischaracterization. –Joe
February 17th, 2020 at 11:37 am
Until Evans and Godwin went down Perriman did squat. Unless you are planning on them both going down again let the dude walk and replace him cheaply.
February 17th, 2020 at 12:13 pm
He is under contract this year, so get the defensive FA’s signed, then worry about Godwin. Just another reason to trade/let go Winston and sign a temporary veteran, because we need to keep as many of our defense that we can. QB & RT can be addressed in FA. This frees up BA to have a good Draft.
February 17th, 2020 at 1:13 pm
I’ve been saying all along: wait to re-sign Godwin.
February 17th, 2020 at 2:15 pm
I think the Bucs would be plum ass crazy to pay Godwin more than Mike let’s not get crazy here and to be clear I’m a huge Godwin fan huge but you better restructure Mike pronto if you pay Godwin more!
February 17th, 2020 at 3:41 pm
Looks like we will need Brate’s money to pay someone……
February 17th, 2020 at 6:18 pm
CG is a team first guy – he knows he is getting paid here, or elsewhere for that matter, in due time
He also knows we have a QB decision and a lot of very important D pieces to resign this off-season
He will have another monster year in 2020 and then be rewarded handsomely
No need to write checks before they are actually due when the loan period is interest free…
February 17th, 2020 at 9:23 pm
I don’t know about all that Clw JB. Agreed that Godwin seems like a team first guy but any dude wants to get paid ASAP. His value could plummet, he could get a career ending injury. Tons of reasons to not want to wait even if it’s for a discount. Somehow I find saying discount hilarious when we are talking about millions of dollars annually but I digress.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:35 pm
You don’t have to re-do his contract, just extend him. He still gets his 2020 salary, but a signing bonus and a couple guaranteed years. Wait till next year he will command more than Evans
February 18th, 2020 at 10:49 am
The guy needs to be extended now. It will be far cheaper than next season when we are forced to pay big $$$. All he has done in his three years in Tampa has been to show exemplary work ethic, be a great teammate, and produce and improve more and more each season. The needle is still pointing up for Godwin. Pay up now or pay up way more later. He must be extended. I don’t think he will ask for more than what Evans is making, i just don’t… but the money should and will have to be close. Godwin is the type of player that you want to extend and build a foundation around.
February 18th, 2020 at 2:54 pm
The team should have extended him at the earliest possible moment, everyone with a brain knew this production was coming. The team gets rid of D-Jax, Hump and now run an offense where they don’t throw to the TE and the team doesn’t have a legit receiving RB or a legit 3rd WR (at least they didn’t for 12-weeks of the year).
Add all that stuff together, which I did before the year began, and I do believe I had Godwin around 85 catches for 1200 yards. He was still over that production over 16-games, but point being, everyone should have seen this coming do to the lack of other options.
Also, for anyone saying Godwin has surpassed Evans… just give it a rest. Godwin is a great, smooth, very productive WR – he’s really really really good. Evans however is a superstar that makes plays with guys hanging all over him. It is a 1A/1B situation, but all that means is you have a #1 WR and a #2 WR, and as I’ve said for years, Godwin is a perfect #2 and really takes advantage of the situation in that role. Just like I said Hump was a perfect #4 WR, and would struggle mightily with the Titans if he was asked to be more than that – and he was, and he did.
February 18th, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Wasn’t it one of the Joes that was first calling for the extension of Godwin?