The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to have their hands full this offseason. The team is riding high after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but they will not have very long to celebrate their victory. Before they know it, the new league year will be starting, which free agency the first thing getting underway and star wide receiver Chris Godwin ready to test it.
As the defending Super Bowl champions, it is only natural that opposing teams will want to poach players away to help fulfill their own title aspirations. For the Buccaneers, their biggest question is not who they will be bringing aboard this offseason, it is who will they be able to keep?
Tampa Bay has a long list of free agents, many of which were key contributors to their Super Bowl run. Offensively, wide receivers Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown, tight end Rob Gronkowski, and running back Leonard Fournette top the list. Defensively, Shaq Barrett, Lavonte David, and Ndamukong Suh are all free agents.
A lot of the decision-making on who to keep may be out of the Bucs’ hands. If a team comes and offers a monster contract to any of these players, it will be difficult to retain them. At the end of the day, money talks and some players could be swayed to leave the defending champs if they are offered enough money. The wide receiver spot is the one that has drummed up the most discussion.
Deciding between Godwin and Brown is not an easy decision. Godwin is younger, but battled some injuries and drops this season. He comes without the baggage of Brown, who has Tom Brady in his corner and an accolade list Godwin can only hope to achieve in his career.
Only the Buccaneers’ front office knows what they will do, but if the beat reporters had to guess, Chris Godwin isn’t going anywhere.
Rick Stroud, who covers the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times, believes Godwin will be back with the Buccaneers for the 2021 season. He was piggybacking off Greg Auman of The Athletic, who also believes Godwin won’t be leaving.
These discussions spawned from a Spotrac prediction for NFL free agents this offseason. They predicted Godwin would sign a five-year, $90 million deal with the Indianapolis Colts and be leaving town.
Buccaneers fans hope that doesn’t come to fruition, as Godwin has proven to be an above-average wide receiver when healthy. Keeping him in the fold would most likely result in another dynamic offense in 2021, one with a full offseason under their belts to further improve chemistry and cohesion.
