The Return Of The Real Chris Godwin

June 4th, 2026

Back to the future?

The past few years have not been great for Chris Godwin.

Whether he was recovering from knee surgery or a shattered ankle, learning a new offense or being misused for roughly two-thirds of a season, Godwin hasn’t been himsel, for a full season since the Bucs won the Super Bowl in 2020.

Now healthy, and as he discussed this week, Godwin looks to be heading for a full season of strong, maybe Pro Bowl-level football again.

And Eric Moody of BSPN expects Godwin’s success to carry over to this fall after seeing how he finished the 2025 season strong,

Godwin isn’t a trendy sleeper at this stage of his career, but his role looks more secure after Mike Evans signed with San Francisco. His 2025 season was slowed by recovery from a broken ankle, but Godwin still flashed late and has QB Baker Mayfield’s trust. We have him projected for the second-most targets on the team behind Emeka Egbuka.

The only thing that will stop “Unc” from having the second-most targets this fall will be if Jalen McMillan elevates his game, which easily could happen. Joe expects teams to be more worried about Egbuka and Godwin. Or, sadly, Godwin could get hurt again.

Joe is confident Mayfield trusts all his receivers. But the one he likely has the most trust in is Godwin.

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17 Responses to “The Return Of The Real Chris Godwin”

  1. SB~LV 🏈 Says:

    Use with caution!
    Spread the ball AROUND now that we are not trying to get a future HoF player fat stats !

  2. Beeej Says:

    This wr lineup is reminding me of the Rams Superbowl season with Issac Bruce Torry Holt etc

  3. ATLBuc Says:

    I have a feeling that at least 3 receivers will get close to 1000 yards!

  4. SlyPirate Says:

    Beeej Says:
    June 4th, 2026 at 7:06 am
    This wr lineup is reminding me of the Rams Superbowl season with Issac Bruce Torry Holt

    ^^^^^^

    The 1999 Rams. Also with Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk.

    This offense reminds you of the great show on turf?

    Like when two children play Star Wars with sticks. The sticks “remind” you of lightsabers, right?

  5. Dre_bucsfan Says:

    Godwin will always have a special place in Tampa fans heart BUT sadly no one at this stage in their career gets better after multiple serious injuries and that age gets better! J Mac is a beast along with hurst and Tez play making abilities and of course #2 from Ohio state the sensation, i believe we can spread the love and have a prolific passing attack! It’s on Zac to make it all work

    LFG!!!

  6. Hodad Says:

    Hope he stays healthy, but should he have another serious injury, he’s done.

  7. Megoat13 Says:

    Hopefully my gut feeling is right that not only will cg look like vintage cg but jmac is gonna blow up this year

  8. Billy Bucco Says:

    I watched a video online showing about 3 minutes of practice yesterday.
    Godwin looked a little slow to me and possibly heavy footed, but what do I know.
    It did show a lot of CB drills and there are several that flip their hips really well.
    Surprisingly Zyon looked the most fluid in that drill.
    It also showed the O-Line working on wide zone.
    They were just going through the motions, but timing looked decent.

  9. football 1 Says:

    I hope Chris has a huge season. Really good for Chris and Buc fans. He is after all in my opinion MR Buc. No one has been more dedicated or selfless to the team. He has woeked extremely hard to come back from awful career ending injuries. Tip your hat to him and lets hope he has a lights out season.
    Thanks Chris

  10. toopanca Says:

    Between Hurst, McMillan, Egbuka, Godwin, Johnson, Sharp, Otton, Gainwell and Irving, if the Bucs spread the ball around opportunistically and take what the opposing defenses give them, they could all have over 500 yards and Baker could pass for 5,000 yards without anyone having 1,000 receiving yards.

    @ Billy Bucco

    It is good news that Zyon is moving well.

    The talk has been that Zyon was “bored” last year; “distracted “. To me, Zyon always looked like one of the most fluid guys on the field about mid season last year, after which he looked like he was playing through a core or groin injury.

    Zyon playing at his best is a big plus.

  11. Warren Brooks Lynch Says:

    Chris back at 100% makes the QBs job easier, but you’ve got to find him and make the pass because there’s no doubt he can and will get open. That’s the benefit of having Godwin with the occasional explosive play downfield, IF the QB can find him and put passes on him consistently.

  12. Beeej Says:

    SlyPirate Says:

    THERE ya go with the negative waves

  13. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    I have a feeling Godwin is on his last contract extension in Tampa. That said, I hope he does great.

  14. BuccaDAWG Says:

    If Hurst or any of the other talented WR’s develope into a solid go up an take the ball type Red Zone threats then our WRs could be better or at least no worst than witn the one who turned his back on the Bucs. Godwin & Egbuka are pretty good players to start with.i am as comfortable if not more comfortable giving Godwin the “C” especially a healthy Godwin. He has always been a TEAM first guy. GO BUCCANEERS!!!!

  15. Mveal2006 Says:

    Recoveries from 5 bad years are a longshot.

    Im rooting for the guy but I prefer evans

  16. MelvinJunior Says:

    @ Beeej Says: about SlyPirate: “THERE ya go with the negative waves”

    No. It’s not being “negative,” when someone says something that is SO ridiculously STUPID. What else would YOU expect for someone else to say, when YOU say something THIS ABSURD!? I mean, come on. If YOU aren’t capable of speaking ‘realistically’ then you should expect to be ‘called-out’ on it. So, don’t cry about it! YOU frickin SAID IT. Not HIM.

  17. MelvinJunior Says:

    “I have a feeling Godwin is on his last contract extension in Tampa. That said, I hope he does great.”

    I hope he does too, so that we can ‘move him’ for a solid early round 2027 Draft-Pick, when/if we are sitting there at 3-5 and heading to Chicago, before the trade deadline.

 

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