Can Chris Godwin Become Better At Outside Receiver?
June 21st, 2023
New position, same success?
Joe isn’t one to eff with success. But in this case, Joe is keeping an open mind.
A core Joe belief, a sacred oath almost, is to never think of fixing something that isn’t broken. That’s one reason Joe gets so mental about flipping Tristan Wirfs to left tackle. That’s effing with greatness for crying out loud.
Take Chris Godwin. The Bucs plan on using him as an outside receiver this fall. He usually plays slot receiver, but was never limited to the slot.
When former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians took over, one of the first things he did was move Godwin to slot. Arians had a successful history of success moving receivers to slot at past NFL stops. That continued with Godwin, who still took over 200 snaps a year as an outside receiver in the Arians offense.
As a result, Godwin went from a good player to an excellent player, a Pro Bowler.
Despite being slowed by a surgically-repaired knee, last year Godwin finished in the top-10 in the league in total YAC (yards after catch). Impressive for a guy with a gimpy knee.
So why is Joe willing to bless new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales moving Godwin back to the outside?
The answer, in part, is Canales’ history with receivers, much like Arians’ history of moving receivers to the slot.
For eight seasons as receivers coach in Seattle, and four seasons as passing game coordinator or quarterbacks coach, Canales had some of the best wide receivers in the game. Year in and year out, Canales got excellent production. Can you remember a time Seattle didn’t have at least one productive receiver?
The Seahawks never drafted a receiver in the first round in Canales’ time in Seattle (but did draft four receivers in the second round during the same timeframe). Yet Canales always developed these guys and coached them up.
So yeah, would Joe prefer to keep Godwin primarily at slot? Sure. But given Canales’ history of developing and maxing out receivers, Joe’s open-minded.
Most yards after catch in 2022
Austin Ekeler – 857
Christian McCaffrey – 695
Travis Kelce – 648
Justin Jefferson – 613
Leonard Fournette – 563
AJ Brown – 548
Jerick McKinnon – 541
Chris Godwin – 531
Amon-Ra St. Brown – 526
Jaylen Waddle – 510— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) June 19, 2023
June 21st, 2023 at 4:38 am
Can’t believe Fournette is in that group.
June 21st, 2023 at 7:54 am
Godwin can play well at both & we should use him at both.
As far as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” I agree….but in the case of Wirfs…..the LT position was broke…..so, we are fixing that….and I believe it will work well.
Would you rather have problems at RT or LT?
June 21st, 2023 at 7:55 am
Fournette had a bad foot injury last year. He was running on one wheel man. He will get better and play well for another team eventually imo.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:09 am
He will flop as an outside receiver. Simply does not have the speed to be successful and lacks size to offset the lack of speed. Keep him in the slot where he can block and get favorable coverages against LB’s and Safety’s. Cornerbacks will be too fast for him to exploit. Mike and Chris lack elite speed. Evans will never make the HOF due to his limitations. Mike’s stats are all garbage time stats. Bucs down by 20 and throwing on every play in the 4th quarter. I would love to see the percentage of Evans’ stats that were generated during garbage time.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:21 am
@BillyBucco
Well that’s because alot of the fat defensive lineman were slow. That’s probably why he was in there. It was fat vs. fat.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:32 am
“He will flop as an outside receiver. Simply does not have the speed to be successful and lacks size to offset the lack of speed.”
Dude went to the pro bowl and had his best season as a pro his first year not splitting reps with Desean Jackson after he went back to Philly in 2019. Godwin was the other WR opposite of Evans in any personnel package that called for 2 WRs, what are we even talking about here?
“Evans will never make the HOF due to his limitations.”
3rd behind Jerry Rice & Tim Brown for most consecutive 1k yard seasons
Currently sitting on 81 TDs before turning 30 which is kind of insane
Already > 10K receiving yards
The 6th WR in NFL history to amass +10K yards & 75 TDs behind Rice, Megatron, Harrison, Moss & Fitzgerald all HOFers.
Mike has arguably been a top 5 WR since 2014, and if he just stays the pace he’s been at the last 4-5 years, he’ll improve his HOF resume even if he stops playing at 32-33 years old.
June 21st, 2023 at 9:43 am
Jeff since when is 4.42 in the 40 slow and 6’1 212 small for an outside receiver, and the man works out relentlessly is quick for his size, he’s a great route runner, has excellent hands, and is one of the best blockers in the league, Godwin as an outside receiver is the last worry we have on this team
June 21st, 2023 at 11:17 am
Not the least bit worried about Godwin on the outside. JBF presented stats a few weeks ago that showed he played plenty of snaps outside in the last few years. This isn’t even a position change. Given the motion they’re putting in, it’s safe to say that even from an outside initial formation, Godwin will motion inside to exploit matchups. This is a total non-issue.
June 21st, 2023 at 11:18 am
Jeff’s take has no merit Godwin will crush it on the outside just like he did in the slot. Godwin is a stud at any WR position.
Mike is going to make the HOF maybe not first ballot. May take 5 years after he retires. He will transition into that Fitzgerald mode in a few year and keep stacking yards and TD’s for year’s to come.
June 21st, 2023 at 12:57 pm
Only 2 teams had multiple players on that list. Hope the new OC is as effective scheming guys open like Andy Reid and Lefty!
June 21st, 2023 at 12:59 pm
Godwin, 1000 yards receiving, 10 yards per catch, 104 catches, over 500 of his yards (five yards per catch) came after the catch… what does that tell you? That Godwin was the recipient of tons and tons of five yard passes from sackless Tom Brady. Nobody threw short more often in history as much as Brady did last season. He was the Smoke Screen King.
June 21st, 2023 at 1:57 pm
This offense should be more varied based on everything we’ve heard. Should mean big(ish) numbers for RaWhite and Otton. Yards per reception should be up for Godwin and Evans, even if # receptions are down slightly. If we have a healthy established 3rd receiver (Hot Tub Gage or Palmer), that player could be pushing 8-900 yards. I believe avoiding significant injuries and consistent play from Mayfield will be the determining factors between struggling and putting together a upper half scoring offense.
June 21st, 2023 at 3:27 pm
maybe my memory is going but did he not play well before BA moved him to the slot? Godwin or Evans will not be the problem it will be the QB’s getting them the ball if there are issues!