Lessons From “Playing With Three Hall Of Fame Receivers”
June 5th, 2022
Is Chris Godwin a Hall of Fame wide receiver?
One Buccaneer seems to be sure of it.
Second-year Bucs receiver Jaelon Darden is that guy. He’s still mastering the playbook, and he’s also recognizing how humbling the NFL was for him coming out of the University of North Texas.
Darden talked to Pasco County-based Route God recently and shared how joining the Bucs took him back to his freshman year at North Texas. In Darden’s mind, he was a nobody during his first two college seasons and lived on the bench, and he didn’t get a full shot to shine until his senior year.
Landing in Tampa last season was like going back to college, he said.
“I’m playing with three Hall of Fame receivers. So in that point, it’s going back to where I started from,” Darden said. “I gotta stay humble. I gotta stay down. But at the same time, I gotta keep my eyes open, keep my pen in my hand and write that sh*t down.”
Joe likes that Darden seems to understand he was overwhelmed last season. It’s the right attitude, and now he’s steaming with confidence. Whether that’s enough to win him a job on the roster remains to be seen. The Bucs’ bottom-of-the-roster competition at receiver is extraordinary.
As for Godwin being a Hall of Famer, he’s got many mountains to climb over the next five seasons to be considered, but he certainly played like one last season before blowing out his knee.
June 5th, 2022 at 10:14 pm
He didn’t blow out his knee. The stink in Saints went dirty on his knee. Pay back this year.
June 5th, 2022 at 10:19 pm
^^^ It was retaliation for what we did to Jaymiss!
June 5th, 2022 at 11:02 pm
We didn’t do anything dirty to jaymiss.
He got grabbed by the numbers on his jersey in the middle of a awkward scramble. It shouldn’t have even been a penalty. If anything it was more of a Keystone Cops kind of mishap
June 5th, 2022 at 11:56 pm
Initial reaction was Godwin hit was dirty, but in hindsight I think both plays were the same thing… players just playing ball tryin to make a play. I don’t think either one wanted to potentially ruin someone’s season or end a mans career potentially by taking a cheap shot. But the fact that White got a flag outa the zebras and PJ F*+face got a punt outa us really angers me.. #theAngerSharksareswimmmming
June 6th, 2022 at 12:31 am
I guess Darden is a slow study and didn’t know the playbook but that is not an excuse for his constant slipping and the seemingly scared way he tried to return kicks. He ran N-S once, when he managed to stay on his feet. The playbook can’t help him with that. Maybe Route God could. He gets one more chance with me, just in case.
And I agree with Bucsfan, completely.
June 6th, 2022 at 1:33 am
Mike Gronk Ab ? Idk
June 6th, 2022 at 1:59 am
Yea, there’s going to be a battle behind Gage, Godwin, and Evans. We’ve got a variety of talent behind those 3 and it’s almost betting on chess pieces.
June 6th, 2022 at 3:19 am
Bucs 2022 UDFA Kaelon Geiger’s college highlights mirrors Jaelon Darden’s college highlights. They both wore #1 n have identical agility n shiftiness. We really have made the wr corp competitive this camp. Wonder can Geiger show more heart than Darden. If so, watch out guys.
June 6th, 2022 at 6:40 am
Just guessing that Darden was referencing Evans, Gronk, and then either Godwin or AB. Evans and Gronk are sure-fire locks for HOF and maybe Godwin, or AB might get in if voters forget about his cray-cray antics and just look at his on-field stats.
No matter which 3 he’s referencing, a young WR couldn’t ask for better mentors than the people he’s had around him these first 2 years. I hope Darden gets much better this year.
June 6th, 2022 at 7:18 am
No quitters in Canton. Brown never gets in, ever. He quit of three teams.
June 6th, 2022 at 7:31 am
I wouldn’t put Godwin in the HOF quite yet. Let’s see how he does coming back from the ACL. AB, Gronk, Evan’s for sure.
June 6th, 2022 at 8:06 am
Darden better grow up in a hurry, because last year he showed nothing as a wideout. I think they got him for more than just a punt returner. Still think the upside of Grayson is large. Let’s see what him brings this year. GOBUCS!
June 6th, 2022 at 8:29 am
About those Saints game injuries:
That was a horse-collar tackle, it wasn’t even borderline. The result was exactly why horse-collar tackles are penalized too, it’s the lower body that takes the stress at an awkward angle. While I doubt it was intentional, don’t play it down.
The Godwin injury was more freak. The tackle on Godwin wasn’t orthodox, it actually looked more like a crab block. The result was devastating because Godwin’s lower leg was planted and locked under the defender’s torso. The defender would have to have superhuman powers to calculate that would happen, he was trying to trip up Godwin and send him airborne or end-over-end and maybe get a turnover.
June 6th, 2022 at 8:44 am
Ar first I din’t think a tackle by the numbers was a horse collar….but then I looked it up…..it certainly is.
June 6th, 2022 at 10:59 am
Quibbling about terms I guess. The tackle by the numbers is technically a penalty, but certainly not what is normally a horse collar.
As for the Saints let’s not forget Evans, Fournette, and David were also injured in that game. Nobody well ever convince me the despicable Saints were not out to deliberately injure as many Bucs as possible.
June 6th, 2022 at 12:13 pm
@Ed
Google the image, it wasn’t on the numbers, it was on the nameplate of the jersey. By the NFL rules, it is a textbook horse-collar tackle.
June 6th, 2022 at 12:42 pm
Hodad Says:
June 5th, 2022 at 10:14 pm
He didn’t blow out his knee. The stink in Saints went dirty on his knee. Pay back this year.
—————-
Actually, it was a crappy throw by Brady that put him in that position. If we’re blaming people for the knee, Brady is the number one offender. That was very poor location and he set Godwin up to get clobbered.
June 6th, 2022 at 1:37 pm
Ummm do we forget the whole saints paying players to take out ACL,s??? And how payton was suspended for a year?? It was a dirty ass hit
June 6th, 2022 at 5:25 pm
@Bucsfan4ever clearly doesn’t understand horse collar rule.
June 6th, 2022 at 6:59 pm
Bounty Gate 2.0 AINTS Sean “punchable lips” Payton knew exactly what he was doing in that game ! He knew he was going to retire and didn’t care . He just wanted to make sure our Bucs didn’t get another Super Bowl while he was still coaching… Go Bucs
June 6th, 2022 at 7:06 pm
Brandon – I don’t give a crap where the ball was thrown !! PJ Williams put his shoulder into Godwin’s knee and then got up and laughed and smiled at Brady ! I sure hope your not a Bucs fan sticking up for the AINTS and their dirty Bounty Gate 2.0 game ? I believe the majority seen what happened and ever Chris Collinsworth himself said that was a bad play ! You can’t get that guy to say ANYTHING about stuff that happens when he calls a game , but as a former WR , he said ” I asked a number of WRs , RBs , TEs and they ALL said they would rather get a head shot than have their knees taken out” !!
June 7th, 2022 at 1:14 am
PJ Williams took out Godwin with a hit in the knee and tried to take out Fournette with another hit to the knees in the same game. You can’t tell me that the Saints were not purposely trying to injure the Bucs star players. What really bothered me was the Bucs just laid down and took it. I’m not saying try to take one of their players out but there are ways of making a point on the football field without ending someone’s season or career with a dirty hit.