Todd Bowles Knows Why Chris Godwin Has Had A Strong Camp
August 10th, 2026
Return of old Chris Godwin.
Fans at One Buc Palace for Bucs training camp practice, has Chris Godwin looked smooth to you?
Joe sees a very smooth Godwin. Sharp. Godwin may not be as fast as he used to be, but boy does he look smooth.
It’s been a while since Joe has seen Godwin look like this in camp. And Bucs coach Todd Bowles has the answer for why Godwin has had his best camp in some time.
“I think he’s healthier right now,” Bowles said. “I mean, years past he’s been hurt the last two [training camps], but he’s a lot healthier right now.”
And yeah, Godwin’s camp has reminded Bowles of the Godwin in his prime.
“He’s into it mentally,” Bowles said. “He’s sharp. He’s tough. He understands it. He’s a great mentor to the guys. He’s still a playmaker for us.
“He makes big plays for us in the passing and blocking game. I think right now he’s peaking at the right time.”
Joe noticed a practice last week when Godwin laid out a defender with a vicious block.
Joe thinks Bowles nailed it: Godwin looks damn good because he’s healthy.
August 10th, 2026 at 7:35 am
Chris is ready for the season to start, and surprisingly, he’s one of the healthier WRs at the moment. I’m not sure I want Chris practicing against some crazy rookie at the Jets scrimmages.
August 10th, 2026 at 7:39 am
You know what I’ve been thinking lately. Suppose Zac Robinson uses Chris Godwin in this offense the way that the falcons used Kyle Pitts? Pitts was essentially a WR and was never asked to block much. I imagine that CG would thrive doing much what was required in that role.
August 10th, 2026 at 7:40 am
Hey Joe. How has that rookie receiver out of GA State looking?
August 10th, 2026 at 7:43 am
Just a thought that crossed my mind when trying to imagine how this offense will look and how Robinson with spread the all amongst the WRs. Emeka in the Drake London role (they used him much more in the slot last year) and CG in the Pitts role (he was essentially a slot WR himself).
August 10th, 2026 at 8:02 am
“Joe thinks Bowles nailed it: Godwin looks damn good because he’s healthy.” Lt. Dan would also add that the absence of ME13 may have something to do with Godwin’s fine training camp. He is the undisputed WR1a now. EE is more like WR1b right now.
August 10th, 2026 at 8:26 am
Very nice to see him back
August 10th, 2026 at 8:42 am
Sounds like EE is becoming the WR #3. Watch out below!
Reputation is built on performance. It’s no substitute for performance.
August 10th, 2026 at 9:01 am
Glad to hear CG is back! Also glad to hear that Todd knows something.
August 10th, 2026 at 9:42 am
Well, he’s got to be at a Top-5 (Top-10 minimum) in the league WR-level, to worth the kind of money LICKT handed him… $66-MILLION ($44-MIL FULLY GUARANTEED). After last season’s wash-out. And, think about all the Dead Cap, if they decide to move off him after the season. It’s NOT looking so good. Then, you go and draft his replacement in the same draft AND lose Mike Evans the next off-season. He’s NOT going to be a Top-5/10 WR in the league this season, so you can go ahead and just completely dismiss THAT right off the bat. But, he’s got to AT LEAST BE a major major contributor or BIG reason for why they make a Conference Championship Game. When I look at the LIONS and some of the other team’s ROSTERS, and what THEY are paying for THEIR talent, how ‘high-level’ THEIR talent is, and with how THEY always, constantly seen to find the ELITE-level MONEY to pay ELITE-level TALENT… My question to myself is WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF OUR MONEY!? Especially, when we DON’T have any $30-MILLION WR’s, and we are NOT paying ‘top-of-the-market’ $$$$ for a QB. Like, WHERE IS IT!? It’s really dumbfounding good me. Now, I’m not even saying that WE HAVE Detroit-level, or any of these other team’s talent, either. Which is what makes it EVEN MORE dumbfounding, that we don’t seem to have ANY MONEY. JL and this FO has obviously done a HORRENDOUSLY BADDDD JOB.
August 10th, 2026 at 9:48 am
The reason I bring up Detroit, is because I saw where they just signed a few more of ‘their guys’ to big-money deals… Like, they always seem to do without batting any eye. Just like a few other teams do. THEN, I start thinking about OUR ROSTER.
August 10th, 2026 at 10:30 am
So far so good.
Stay healthy dude…
August 10th, 2026 at 10:32 am
Nice Buc trivia:
Who was the best 3rd round pick in Tampa Buc history?
1) Ronde Barder
2) John Lynch
3) Chris Godwin Jr.
4) Other
August 10th, 2026 at 10:43 am
I can’t remember a time when Godwin was healthy that he didn’t play great. When you add in the blocking, he’s like a mixture of Fitzgerald and Hines Ward. But the question remains, who’s our number one. The clear choice right now is Hurst. Mek, Mac and Tez aren’t fast enough to be ones. They get the job done for sure but I’m not sure they’re true number ones. Even though he should be our starting X, I’m sure the season isn’t going to start with Hurst on the field.
August 10th, 2026 at 11:01 am
@ ATL
“he’s like a mixture of Fitzgerald and Hines Ward.”
I agree.
Nice comps…
August 10th, 2026 at 11:24 am
No doubt LT.Dan ! Im guessing since he’s doing well Mayfield must be also?? Go Bucs!
August 10th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Mayfield and Egbuka are the biggest winners of Chris returning to form.
A fully healed and healthy Godwin takes so much pressure off Egbuka, who won’t have WR1 expectations this season. Godwin should have coverage sliding to him once the season starts and that gives Egbuka more opportunities to do what he did at the beginning of last season. It puts JMac as a natural WR3 with a possible time share with Hurst later on in the season.
If all goes well Hurst takes on the WR2 role if Chris leaves in 2027, but he can learn and develop without the Bucs being forced to give him too much this season.
Stay healthy Chris, the young guys are going to learn a lot from you this year.
August 10th, 2026 at 11:42 am
Melvin JR: $22 million a year is nothing now a days for receiver. He’s tied for 25th this year. Chris isn’t a top 25 guy when healthy?
August 10th, 2026 at 11:42 am
Number 1 WR doesn’t mean X Wide Receiver.
A “#1 WR” (or WR1) means a team’s top-performing pass-catcher or primary target, whereas an “X receiver” is a specific tactical alignment position on the line of scrimmage (the split end).
We will see who there #1 as the season progresses. My money would be on CG. As far as Hurst being the X and developing into their #1. That’s the hope. He has the tools, size, contest well at the high point & speed. His ceiling is really high. Coming out of Ga St. I would think it would take a year or two for him to develop. 5 TDs and 400 yards his rookie year would be a huge. Hopefully he gets his red zone route running and Baker’s trust enough to put him in down there.
Last year the best player in camp aside from ME was EE. Where is he this camp? Egbuka has just disappeared. I get the rookie wall hamstring issue the 2nd half of last year but what’s going on now? Has he lost his confidence? Reporters need to dig into this!
August 10th, 2026 at 11:57 am
@Marine – gotta go Barber. HOF career but even more importantly..the interception that got the Bucs past the Philly curse and shut down the Vet with a wimper. Best moment of my Bucs life.
August 10th, 2026 at 1:05 pm
Marine Buc: Do you remember a 3rd Rounder named Myron Lewis? He paved the way for Benjamin Morrison, I think he had a hang nail problem that kept him out for parts of 3 seasons.
August 10th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
“I get the rookie wall hamstring issue the 2nd half of last year but what’s going on now?”
IDK how much the hamstring and rookie wall stuff played a part, but if you get a chance look at his production before & after week 7 and you can draw a couple different conclusions on the real reasons Egbukas’ play trailed off right before and after the bye week.
#1
At OSU, he was primarily used as a slot WR meaning he rarely drew matchups with a teams best CB, while also benefitting from having WRs that lined up outside of him that usually took safety help off of Egbuka(sound familiar?) and granted him a lot of 1on1’s with most teams 2nd/3rd CB.
#2
Alot of his OSU production came as a weapon against zone coverage, which is played at a much higher clip at the collegiate level in comparison to pros because it’s easier to teach/learn and it’s partly out of necessity with the variety of offensives styles the avg football program sees in a season. After Mike went down, Egbuka saw a spike in man coverage and for whatever it’s worth, we’ve struggled against man coverage A LOT the last few years. Variety of reasons, but as you guys say very often on here-that starts at the top.
#3
Now keep #1 & #2 in consideration and just think, here’s a rookie that got off to a white-hot start while being moved around lining up in a multitude of alignments being asked to do things that didn’t necessarily play to his strengths but was needed of him for different circumstances. Once our actual best WR went down, it kind of exposed the offense as a whole.
Through our first 7 games Egbuka saw man coverage on 21% of his routes run.
After week 7 Egbuka saw an 11%(seems small, but they’re are on total routes run not just target so it’s a big enough spike to be noticeable) spike over his final 10 games lining up against man coverage on 32% of his routes over that stretch and guess what ya’ll, it worked.
DCs know we struggle against man, which throws off the rhythm of pass plays and exposes the fact we don’t have many man beaters in that period of time not named Evans/Godwin. Mike is gone now, and it’s why I chuckle at people on here who’re just worried about replacing his production from last year. Obviously forgetting how Mike effectively does what Vita does on defense which is-giving us an advantage in the on-field numbers game.
I think Egbuka can still be a heck of a pro, he’s very talented as a player, but not talented enough to where the stuff he hasn’t done well/consistently in his playing career automatically becomes easy. Problem is, the NFL has good man cover guys all around the league and that’ll mean every matchup may STILL bring new challenges for EE.
August 10th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
@ Lt Dan
I agree.
I got to go with Ronde as my top 3rd round pick for this franchise…
August 10th, 2026 at 1:49 pm
@ Smoke
What a shame with ML…
How many solid players have injuries taken out over the years in the NFL?
August 10th, 2026 at 1:58 pm
@Warren Brooks Lynch
Nice write up! It’s probably a little more than EE having a problem with increased man coverage. The coverages after Evans went down rolled the best CB onto him. I can speak to how injured he was but how it played out would’ve gone the same way with or without being hobbled. His numbers should’ve dropped and did.
I don’t think the Bucs went into last season believing he was going to solve the limitations you described – even during his hot start we know his success involved picking on weaker cover guys in the secondary. Hot rookie or not – no DC in his right mind was taking their best cover guy off Mike Evans.
Unless Hurst develops into a true WR1, sooner or later Egbuka will be the best WR on the Bucs. It’s a credit to his talent but not good enough for a team wanting to win a title. He’s got room to improve his game – though IMO he’s not far from being his best as an excellent WR2. Worth a mid to low first round pick – but not a weapon they can consistently run the passing game through.
If Godwin’s 2027 salary is too much for the Bucs and he departs next year I wouldn’t be surprised to see another move to improve the top of the Bucs WR room.
August 10th, 2026 at 2:18 pm
“Nice write up! It’s probably a little more than EE having a problem with increased man coverage.”
Well first thanks, and second I hinted at it just not being a problem for EE, BUT what didn’t help EE was the not playing alongside a 2-man magnet in ME13 while also being “WR1” on an offense that finished top 10 in EPA facing zone coverage, but ranked 31st in EPA against man coverage.
I think talent and usage wise, Egbuka is a younger maybe(only maybe because before the injuries Chris was as explosive as anybody) more athletic version of CG14, but you cannot line both those guys up doing the same thing in the same packages. So you alternate’em and imo, that’s where J-Mac and/or Hurst come into play being able to stretch the field.
That’s what we need to show before this year is out is that we can threaten from the 2nd level back as an offense or teams will play us much like the Eagles played us last year sitting in a cover 2 shell and just waiting on everything they give us underneath.
Also, you ever get the team look at our numbers beating zone vs. beating man, it’s absolutely disgusting.
August 10th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Now he gets to prove he wasn’t wearing Mike Evan’s coat tails.
Hop he has 16 yards and 12 TDs this year!
August 10th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
1600 yards i meant
August 10th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
2024 Chris was THE top reciever in the league before he got hurt in 24……dude was a yac machine. Chris IS THAT man 🏈
As far as man vs zone goes…..I think J-Mac, Tez, and Hurst may be our best man beaters and Chris and EE our best WRs against zone.
I’ll take our #3 and #4 (WRs) against opponents #3 and #4 (corners) all day every day.
August 10th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
That’s what we need to show before this year is out is that we can threaten from the 2nd level back as an offense or teams will play us much like the Eagles played us last year sitting in a cover 2 shell and just waiting on everything they give us underneath.
***************************
As I read your observation I was simultaneously thinking about Robinson’s play calling and packages in Atlanta. The book is still open on what he’s going to do here, but his hiring was surprising to me based on how predictable a scheme he ran there.
For the life of me I can’t imagine a world where he reinvents the wheel and becomes a better version of himself. Coaches bring what they know, and most of them keep running what they like regardless of outcome. The 2025 Falcons constrained opening up their offense to 2nd and 3rd level attacks only to situations where the game hung in the balance. The YPA’s and separation metrics for WRs were atrocious, which speaks more to scheme than talent in some cases. If Robinson intends to do a popgun approach here the results are as predictable as some of what happened with Grizzard.
August 10th, 2026 at 2:48 pm
“Now he gets to prove he wasn’t wearing Mike Evan’s coat tails.”
Literally how he scored his first NFL TD, Mike carried AJ Terrell vertically while catching Xavier Watts w/too much deep causing him to flip his hips while EE ran a cross/mesh route from a stack position opposite of the formation. Safety that would’ve met Egbuka at the ball was late trailing Evans while grabbing air as the pass sailed over him.
“The book is still open on what he’s going to do here, but his hiring was surprising to me based on how predictable a scheme he ran there.”
Agreed, and here’s what kind of makes me a little uneasy about Robinson is alot of what some bucs media coverage has said about him almost always ties into him either being from the McVay(Shannahan really) tree or saying he’ll be just like Liam Coen. In a simplified way I get what they’re selling, but also still aware that comes with it’s own pros and cons. As good as 2024 was, we still had that ugly 3 game losing streak after losing our top 2 targets.
Now here we are in 2025, and I’m hoping Egbuka doesn’t turn into Z-Robs’ Bucky Irving in the sense that we’re going to try to force involvement no matter how it shakes out. That’d be the sum of a few fears for me, offensively.
August 10th, 2026 at 3:05 pm
I thought the answer was he was in a contract year.
August 10th, 2026 at 3:06 pm
@ Patrickbucs – NO. Did I NOT specifically lay-out very clearly what his contract was for throughout the 3-SEASONS!? That’s right. So, why are YOU repeating it!? HE either, has to perform at a $33-MILLION WR-level this season, in order for the Bucs to receive a proper RETURN on their investment. OR at a $44-MILLION WR, if they choose to ‘move-on’ from him after the end of the season… Really, for $66-MILLION, since I’m sure they’ll be hit for the full amount in Dead Cap, as well, regardless if he’s here for NEXT SEASON, or not. But, since I have to ‘spell-it’ all out for you… The $22-MILION supposedly for LAST SEASON, was entirely WASTED. And, LICKT gave it too him obviously, even when KNOWING that he wasn’t going to be fully healthy, or he wouldn’t had DRAFTED EE to cover is ass. Last season was a WASH for Godwin. He had as close to having ZERO Impact as you could get. So, in other words, HE HAS TO play at least at a $33-MILLION WR this season. Now, why is that SO HARD for “YOU” to comprehend!? If HE doesn’t perform at a super high high-level THIS SEASON, then JL and the Bucs literally just threw away $66-MILLION. Might as well, taken a MATCH to it.
August 10th, 2026 at 3:35 pm
Big ‘middle-class’ QB article from the Wall Street Journal today, with Baker being at the center of it. It hit on everything. And, was exactly what myself and Dan Patrick was talking about years ago, concerning WHO again… That’s right!!!! Baker. Mayfield. It just doesn’t make any sense. Not for the teams involved. Nor for the QB’s. There has to be a middle ground you’d think, SOMEWHERE!? It’s either, you have to pay the next guy up, OR you just have to let him go. Though, one Baker Mayfield HIMSELF, has a whole lot to do with that. The 2nd paragraph of the article, and the last two, really says it all. On the 2nd-paragraph, was Baker when Baker made those comments publicly, saying straight up that HE had “earned-it.” When, that is just MIND-BLOWING to me (and obviously the Bucs and every other sane human)… I mean, HOW can you say that AFTER last season. It’s totally ABSURD on just soooo many levels.
August 10th, 2026 at 3:37 pm
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
August 10th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Now he gets to prove he wasn’t wearing Mike Evan’s coat tails.
Hop he has 16 yards and 12 TDs this year!
————
Completely different type of receiver playing a different role. Godwin can rack up a more receptions, maybe even more yards, but very very unlikely he gets to 12 TDs, which isn’t a knock, just the reality of a guy playing mostly in the slot and not being a dedicated redzone target.
But in any case, it’s going to come down to Baker. If we get the awful Baker from the final 11 games last year, then no one is going to be very productive – which is pretty much impossible to do when your QB is passing for 120 and 140 yards a game. I mean Baker last year had Trent Dilfer / Mike Glennon like numbers with 3,693 yards passing – and that was in 17 games. It was terrible.
Obviously if we get the 2024 Baker, then there’s a lot more yards to go around, and we could certainly see Godwin and e2 over a 1000 yards, which I hope is the floor.
Speaking of which, I’ll have to do my stat preview at some point. I need to see if I can find what I did for last year, it was completely off since Baker was so bad and everyone was injured, but it would be good to know how off it was.
August 10th, 2026 at 4:06 pm
We will miss ME’s elite red zone presence. Pick Chase McLaughlin in your fantasy leagues!
August 10th, 2026 at 4:46 pm
“Godwin laid out a defender with a vicious block.”
or Bowles soft defense.
August 10th, 2026 at 5:15 pm
BTW, the Cowboys just gave Quinnen Williams an extension for $33M/year. He’s younger, so he’d get a bit more money – but I think it’s giving an idea of the money Vita is going to want, which is going to be probably in the $28M/year range I’d guess.
Again, I’d pay it and get it done (2 year extension, 3rd year basically a team option). But if the team isn’t going to pay him – then TRADE him NOW! You’re not getting more value at the trade deadline, in particular if Vita sits out all of camp, and starts off the year slow. Right now teams will be paying full price for Vita since he’d be able to start day 1. Dragging this out is stupid. Get the deal done, or trade him and make plans for how you’re going to deal with him not being here.
August 11th, 2026 at 5:40 am
He’s trying to play for another big contract extension that he didn’t earn. Of course knit-Licht will give it to him with a backloaded contract we’ll be paying for long after he’s retired.