Buccaneers Have Glimmer of Hope $60 Million WR Could Return

Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin.

You didn’t have to be a medical professional to understand the injury Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin sustained in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in their October 21 Monday Night Football matchup was serious.

The best indicator? ESPN declined to show any replays of what happened to Godwin, who suffered a dislocated ankle on a hip drop tackle by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith.

Godwin was third in the NFL in receiving at the time of his injury and in the middle of perhaps his best individual season since he was named NFL All-Pro in 2019. He’s also in the final season of the 3-year, $60 million contract to boot.

While the de facto thinking is that Godwin won’t play football again in 2024, the veteran wide receiver told ESPN’s Jenna Laine on October 28 that he thinks there’s a chance he could return for the playoffs in a “best case scenario.” Godwin has already undergone surgery to repair the injury.

” … the biggest thing for me is make sure that it’s secure, make sure that it’s strong and stable, and I’m not at risk of reinjury,” Godwin told Laine following an event for his charity foundation. “But there’s a lot of stuff in the beginning that you can do to prepare yourself to make an acceleration later in the rehab process, just by doing some of the little things or little extra little things.”

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Buccaneers Sure to Struggle in Godwin’s Absence

Godwin’s 50 receptions for 576 yards and 5 touchdowns still leads the Buccaneers by over 200 yards — tight end Cade Otton leapfrogged wide receiver Mike Evans with a big game in a 31-26 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8 and is now second on the team with 36 receptions for 344 yardds and 3 touchdowns.

While the Buccaneers could sustain without Godwin or Evans at different times, playing without both of them might mean the end of their playoff hopes. Evans is out until at least after the bye in Week 11 with a hamstring injury he re-injured against the Ravens.

One thing Tampa Bay might need to do before the NFL trade deadline on November 5 is make a trade to bring in a veteran who might serve as a good second option to play alongside Evans when he returns — a player like Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers or New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams.

Buccaneers Chances of Making the Playoffs Getting Smaller

With every week, the odds the Buccaneers will even be in a playoff game that Godwin could return for seem to shrink.

Tampa Bay fell to 4-4 with the loss to the Falcons and are staring down back-to-back games against the 2 teams that squared off in last year’s Super Bowl — a Monday Night Football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on November 4 then a short week before a home game against the San Francisco 49ers on November 10.

Godwin, to his credit, has played some of his best football in the postseason. In his first playoff appearance in 2020, he had 16 receptions for 282 yards and 1 touchdown as the Buccaneers won the second Super Bowl in franchise history. In 7 career playoff games, he has 34 receptions for 402 yards and 2 touchdowns.