On Friday, Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal posted on X.com that the Patriots are “expected to be the driver” in the free agency sweepstakes for Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin.
Giardi went on to write, “It's gonna cost more money than you would have thought (think in excess of $25 million per) despite the season-ending injury.”
The 29-year-old has played his entire career in Tampa Bay, winning a Super Bowl with Patriots legend Tom Brady in 2020. Serving as Tampa’s No. 2 receiver next to future Hall of Fame wideout Mike Evans, Godwin has still been able to put up top-end production compared to others at his position across the league.
In his eight-year career, the Penn State-product has amassed 579 catches for 7,266 receiving yards and 39 touchdowns. His career per game average of just over 5 catches and 65.5 receiving yards shows a level of dependability that the Patriots have lacked since the days of Julian Edelman in the slot.
With Baker Mayfield at QB, last season was trending towards being one of his best years yet. Through seven games, Godwin had already racked up 50 catches for 576 yards and 5 touchdowns. He was pacing towards averaging the most catches per game of his career (7.1), as well as the second most receiving yards per game of his career (82.3).
Unfortunately for him and Tampa, that great start came to a halt during garbage time in Week 7 on Monday Night Football, as Godwin dislocated his ankle with under a minute to go with his team losing 41-31 to Baltimore with no timeouts on the opposite side of the 50. With the slimmest of margins of still coming out with a win, Godwin was still running full speed, inevitably leading to a season-ending surgery to repair the dislocation.
Despite the veteran coming off of surgery as he heads into 2025, Giardi believes there will not be a discounted price tag for the one-time All-Pro selection (second team in 2019). And that should be OK for the Patriots, who have a league-leading $128 million in cap space to spend this offseason.
Despite that, NFL Network’s Sara Walsh believes there is a “very realistic” chance that Godwin stays put with the Bucs.
“If you go by the Bucs’ recent history, that would tell you that it’s very realistic we see Chris Godwin in a Bucs uniform once again,” said Walsh. “I’ll go back to that Super Bowl run, and when they won it all, Bruce Arians stood on the stage at the Super Bowl parade afterwards and said, ‘They’re all coming back.’ And he would say it about every guy.
“And for the most part, barring an Alex Cappa who left, and Jordan Whitehead who left - he then came back - but their really big names, the Bucs and Jason Licht and that front office have done an incredible job of keeping these guys in Tampa. We saw it with Mike Evans a year ago, he obviously had some opportunities to go somewhere else. So I think that’s maybe because people here are spoiled in the Tampa Bay area thinking the stars stay here and they get them to stay. But it’s also obviously very alluring for Chris to stay here. This is the only team he has known. Him and Mike Evans have been one of the most productive duos in the NFL in recent history. And he likes Baker Mayfield - they have a good thing going.”
So will Godwin prioritize continuity and momentum with Mayfield over the prospect of being one of the highest paid players at his position with an exciting young quarterback in Drake Maye?
Free agency in the NFL officially gets underway at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and Godwin news should be among the first big name players off the board.
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on the Patriots’ offseason.