In 2017, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected a wide receiver in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the name of Chris Godwin. At that time, it was difficult for him to get some playing time because of DeSean Jackson and his current teammate Mike Evans and he wasn’t targeted as much as those two were. Since he’s been in the league, he’s continuously climbed the ladder with his stats. 2019 was his first 1,000-yard season. The following year, he gets to team up with Tom Brady and he wins his first Super Bowl. During the off-season, the Buccaneers placed the franchise tag on Chris. He was having a quiet, yet good season. Last night in the loss against the New Orleans Saints, Chris left the game with an apparent knee injury. Now, it’s been reported that he’s sprained his MCL and tore his ACL in his knee and he will be out for the remainder of the season.
When Tom announced he was signing in Tampa Bay last March, I immediately became excited for him not only for Mike Evans but more so for Chris. If you’ve watched Brady over the years, one thing he loves to target is the smaller, yet shiftier receivers. Look what he was able to do with Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, and Danny Amendola for years in Foxboro. Chris is one of those shifty guys I just described. However, he can do more down the field such as take the top off coverages. His teammates refer to him as “Mr. YAC” because all he does when the ball hits his hands is rack up those yards after the catch. This is a tough guy and I say that because I remember him last season playing a good portion of the year with a broken finger. Chris does so many different things while he’s on the field. He can run those deep routes, run the screen passes then shoot himself up the field and go over the middle in traffic to make those tough catches. I remember a catch in the NFC Championship game against the Packers in January this year. The Packers did just enough to move Brady to his left, but he was able to make a throw down the field and Chris was there with a safety trying to defend him. He made that big catch. I saw him jump over the guy to get the ball.
This is a huge blow for the Tampa Bay offense. Chris is a vital piece of what they do in the passing game. You can see how much Brady relies on him and as I’ve said for years, he’s not getting you the football unless he trusts you. He was having such a strong year. I also said on Monday Evening Quarterback for the Bucs to succeed come playoff time, he would have to be their x-factor moving forward. This is the perfect opportunity for Antonio Brown to step up and fill in that role for Godwin. I’m wishing Chris a speedy recovery.
