The Rise Of Chris Godwin
November 15th, 2017
Answered the bell.
A lot of folks, Joe included, dreaded the thought the Bucs had to play a game Sunday without Mike Evans.
Two football clichés rose to the surface in the wake of Evans’ suspension for the win over the Jets. The first is, “next man up.” Virtually every football coach says that, even if they don’t mean it. The second is a favorite of winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter, “your guys are your guys.”
For the Bucs, that meant rookie Chris Godwin was getting his number called. Joe was geeked when the Bucs stole Godwin in the third round. After having a solid underwear football season (a troublesome sign for Bucs receivers given recent history), Godwin slowly faded into the background in training camp and didn’t really stick out in preseason and was in a position logjam.
But Sunday, Godwin looked every bit the part of a solid pro. He had five catches on 10 targets for 68 yards. Not too shabby for his first start, especially for playing with a backup quarterback.
Godwin had a nice game and Koetter seemed to agree.
“There [are] only so many roles,” Koetter said about getting Godwin on the field previously. “That’s the thing. You are going to have a number one, a number two, a number three and a number four. That’s just how it is. As we’ve said in here multiple times, you can’t have too many good players. I told you that Chris’ main issue to date has just been that he hadn’t had opportunities because he is behind those other guys.
“The way you saw Chris play on offense [against the Jets] is really the same way he has been attacking special teams up until [Sunday]. It wasn’t just plug him in for Mike [Evans]. Chris did a lot of dirty work yesterday and Mike does some of that too. We had him and DeSean [Jackson] switching back and forth on a lot of different stuff. [I] couldn’t be happier with Chris’ effort and his finish. He got the game ball on offense.”
Pretty cool stuff getting the game ball in your first NFL start.
Joe thinks Godwin has just scratched the surface. The more playing time he gets with the offense, that just means the better he will get.
Joe doesn’t think the Bucs have to worry about receiver for the next handful of years. Who would have thought that not quite a year ago?
November 15th, 2017 at 8:22 am
All we need a starting QB that can accurately deliver the ball to all these talented WR’s & TE’s
November 15th, 2017 at 8:36 am
Bucs fans are the types who compliment one player by insulting others. Sometimes, Bucs fans show very little class or support of their team. Good work Mr. Godwin, looking forward to many productive Buc years from you.
November 15th, 2017 at 8:43 am
winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter
Not! pro-football-reference.com/coaches/Koetter 12-13 W-L, 0-0 W-L in playoffs
November 15th, 2017 at 8:45 am
The rise of Godwin is a bit of a stretch. He had a good game and played ok but he’s the same guy he’s been since we drafted him, no need to exaggerate because we have Mike Evans and djack, he’ll be a number 4 receiver for Jackson’s contact of 3 years minimum or until we get a new coach that can see he’ll give more than hump can if you put djack in the slot more. If we can’t get our first round pick the ball he’ll suffer the same fate
November 15th, 2017 at 8:45 am
He has been solid even is his backup role. Very fluid in his routes and fights for yards after the catch. Hope he sees the field more even when Evans returns.
November 15th, 2017 at 8:55 am
Knowing koetter, we won’t see him again this year,got to get Martino in there!
lol
November 15th, 2017 at 9:14 am
As much as I like Humphries, we need to get Goodwin more playing time to develop. I think that has been a mistake this year to date.
November 15th, 2017 at 9:18 am
I am also in favor of giving Godwin more playing time, even if it is at the expense of Adam Humphries. He has more speed then Adam does, and Adam has fumbled TWICE this year 🙁 One fumble cost us a game, because it left our defense trying to stop our opponent on a short field, at the end of a game.
November 15th, 2017 at 9:42 am
I think he needs to play more than hump….maybe the next HC will use him properly….GO BUCS!!!!
November 15th, 2017 at 9:45 am
Agreed but I don’t expect Koetter to do something that makes sense.
November 15th, 2017 at 10:09 am
Also had a couple solid blocks in the run game.
November 15th, 2017 at 10:50 am
I thoroughly enjoyed not watching Winston forcing every pass to ME13. I am all in on both JW and ME but it was a relief to see that is was possible to move the ball through the air without those two.
It was a relief to see CG12 and Jackson catching passes. They should of caught more but Fitz looked a little rusty and spotty at times. I am not a coach, but I would think that throwing the ball to Godwin and Howard would truly open up the offense to Evans, Jackson and Brate.
Godwin is not even showing his talent yet. He could easily be used as a returner on special teams.
November 15th, 2017 at 11:08 am
I thought this was an article about his girl. Hello! She can get it!!!!
November 15th, 2017 at 11:26 am
But we needed a RB. We needed a DE – the whiners cry..
Yes the Bucs liked Kareem Hunt and yes they would have drafted him.
But Godwin was the highest rated player on the Bucs big board when pick #84 came up and I have a lot of respect for Licht because he drafts for “talent” over “need” more often than most NFL GMs.
So many pre draft say they want BPA (especially in the 1st Rd), then moan later about why this or that “need” didn’t get filled. Well that “need” if addressed would have been filled with a lesser talent than the one you got at a different position. It’s called “reaching”. Drafting too often for “need” leads to a lot of “reaching”. I’ll refer you to Dom’s drafting history taken as a whole as a reminder of what that looks like and how well that works out over years time…
Did we “need” to draft a TE in the 1st rd this year? Of course not. But Licht (unlike Robinson who so many allege is a better GM than Jason) was smart enough to draft a generational TE talent at #19 (that the Bucs had rated a good 12-14 spots higher). While the Titans passed on the TE talent and instead – reached for a (late 1st round talent) CB at #18.
3-4 years from now – the benefits to the Bucs for bringing in the juice – and the detriment to the Titans in NOT selecting OJ Howard will be more than obvious IMO.
Godwin was a GREAT mid 3rd rd pick and will be a very solid or better Buccaneers WR for many years to come.
I LOVED Kareem Hunt pre draft and talked about him as a great 3rd rd pick for the Bucs a lot here on these jbf comments. But just as an aside (since we could have had Hunt at #84 instead of Godwin) – considering how ineffective the OLine’s run blocking has been in 2017 – who here really believes that Hunt or even Cook for that matter would have had the type of impact for the Bucs this year that they did for the teams that drafted them?
Godwin was the higher rated player and I love that our GM sticks to his board and drafts specific players much more often than specific positions…
This strategy will pay BIG dividends in the long term. It might be hard to see sitting at 3-6 in the middle of what has become a very frustrating 2017 Buccaneers season. The reactionaries (most of you) would rather fire everyone involved than stay patient enough to reap the rewards that will surely come when all the young talent thus far acquired by Licht for this team develops and starts to gel.
The Glazers are unlikely to be as reactionary. Worse results than expected a year after a “winning” season should not lead to an “Off with everyone’s head – we’re starting over” mentality. Not with all the young talent the GM has brought in and the very good and long established NFL history our coaching staff has.
Finish 4-12 and all bets are off as they should be – 6-10 or better though likely means Licht, Koetter and Smith will all be back in 2018.
Its hard to have patience as a Bucs fan in the middle of a lost season that started with such hope and expectation. But that is what’s required now. To look for progress. To look for signs the teams play is improving and that the future is still as bright as once believed. We saw some positive signs in the Jets game and came out with a much needed win despite playing without our starting QB and all pro WR. 7 games left to see what this team is really made of.
We’re on to Miami….
November 15th, 2017 at 12:02 pm
I didn’t dread missing him 1 game. He’s been having a below average season. Hasn’t had 1 game over 100 yard season. He was letting his emotions get the best of him like his sophomore year. I welcomed his suspension. He needed to cool off.
November 15th, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Godwin would have went off too had Fitz been on target on some of those misses. His int was to Godwin, could have (potentially) had a TD on that play.
November 15th, 2017 at 12:14 pm
DJax is nice to have and i hope JW learns how to maximize his presence but when he ages out and the salary cap tightens, you can get by with a less expensive\featured deep threat (torrey smith\ted ginn types) and roll with a top 3 of Evans, Godwin, and Humphries for a long long time. especially if the bucs successfully retain\lean on brate and howard, that’s enough very young talent on the top end to ignore pass catchers early in the draft for 7+ years.
November 15th, 2017 at 12:18 pm
Pick, I wasn’t able to finish your novel. You should have posted in in parts as separate chapters lol
November 15th, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Then you missed some good points TDTB. Besides it was just a novella.
November 15th, 2017 at 12:28 pm
We have receives and tight ends that our great offensive coordinator does not KNOW how to use. The same said with our running backs. We have backs who can catch the ball but rarely are they used properly. Once in a while they run Sims deep out of the backfield and he gets open but Winston throws it over his head or out of bounds. I guess now the reason is becoming more evident why our receivers and backs aren’t being used to their potential.
November 15th, 2017 at 1:00 pm
kareem Hunt?…in koetters hands?
OJSTOCKER blocks and Godwin plays special teams, Koetter would have had Hunt be holder for the field goal kicks
Klueless is the worst coach ive seen using his roster ever
November 15th, 2017 at 3:22 pm
I was at the game and so many fans was like this offense sucks without Mike and I second that motion. I love that the young guy had his moment but….
November 15th, 2017 at 7:36 pm
Godwin got his shot and cashed in…what more do you hardarses here expect.
One thing that some here would dislike about Godwin is that he is a CLASS act…a genuine human being…he’s not an attention whre.
Koetter’s ‘dirty work” = blocking downfield or whatever is required…Godwin is the consummate hard working valuable teammate.
He was a GREAT draft pick!!!
November 15th, 2017 at 9:01 pm
Godwin is a jewel of a 3rd round talent, him and Beckwith make this a phenomenal draft
November 16th, 2017 at 8:12 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNKHSyFke1s