Buccaneers get bad Chris Godwin news after franchise tag
By Rob Leeds
The Buccaneers were able to ensure that Chris Godwin is staying in Tampa with the franchise tag, but Mike Williams complicates a long-term deal.
Chris Godwin is staying with the Buccaneers. This was something we all knew to be a certainty. The price tag is the only place where there were some question marks.
Everyone knew that Godwin would get the franchise tag from the Buccaneers well before the deadline. Ian Rapoport may have jumped the gun earlier in the day with his post that Godwin had received the tag despite the fact that the Bucs were still trying to work out a deal, but no one should’ve expected anything to the contrary.
The Bucs waited far too long to extend one of their best offensive players and now they are paying for it, and we haven’t even gotten to the worst part of this yet.
Tampa had to use the tag on Godwin to give themselves more time to work out a long-term deal. There was no expectation that he would play in 2022 on the franchise tag due to the major cap implications that decision would carry, but that has become far more complicated.
The franchise tag in one season was likely more than Godwin would make on a per-year basis over the course of a long-term contract. This doesn’t even mention the freedom a long-term deal would give the Bucs to spread the cap hit out however they deem fit.
This was before the Chargers made Mike Williams one of the highest-paid receivers in the NFL.
The news on this contract came out before the Buccaneers officially tagged Godwin, but it still came after Tampa made it clear that the tag was coming.
Williams’ 20 million dollars per year completely changes the wide receiver market that Chris Godwin was leading in. Everyone on the planet knows that Godwin is better. Why would he accept a deal that pays less than Mike Williams?
The Chargers had enough cap space in hand to overpay a wide receiver. The Buccaneers don’t. Now, the Bucs are almost getting a deal on Godwin with the tag, even though the immediate impact hurts more than a different contract.
Perhaps the Bucs can find a way to include more guaranteed money and length in a deal for Godwin in an effort to bring down the per-year price, but this is bad news for a team that is essentially forced to find a way to work out a deal with their star receiver.
Chris Godwin has all of the leverage, and the impacts of this are not going to be team-friendly.
If only the Buccaneers front office could’ve found a way to deal with this before their backs were against the wall.
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