Chris Godwin And A Long-Term Contract – JoeBucsFan.com – Tampa Bay Bucs Blog, Buccaneers News

Chris Godwin

Joe sees and hears so many Bucs fans weeping about Tampa Bay being way over the salary cap next season as free agency approaches.

Joe is not among the weepers.

Sure, eventually the Bucs will have to pay the price for manipulating contracts and kicking cap-eating line items down the road. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be excruciatingly painful or overly limiting.

Take Chris Godwin, for example. He is set to count about $24 million against next year’s cap. At 27 years old he has the 2023 and 2024 seasons left on his contract. If you ask general manager Jason Licht and Todd Bowles, they will tell you Godwin epitomizes greatness on and off the field and is the ultimate example of the prototype Buccaneer.

Godwin might be the most versatile receiver in the league, and now he’s proven himself more valuable after coming back from ACL surgery, staying healthy and catching 100-plus passes this season.

If the Bucs were to approach Godwin with a huge contract extension, Joe suspects all parties would be happy, including the salary cap obsessed crowd that would watch Godwin’s cap charge plummet (cut in half?) for the 2023 season.

The Bucs, thankfully, have impressive veterans they want to keep. A similar deal could be made with Mike Evans and Devin White (assuming the Bucs don’t want to move on from the latter), along with Carlton Davis and others.

The Bucs should have room to maneuver if Tom Brady comes back, which would trigger the Bucs’ biggest move of all, kicking a hearty helping of Brady’s current $35 million cap charge for 2023 down Dale Mabry Highway.