Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to SR each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Based on this schedule, is Todd Bowles out of excuses for having close to a .500 regular season record and not many deep playoff runs? Seems he’s got everything a coach would need to really contend this year.

ANSWER: I generally agree, and let’s look at some facts. In his three seasons as Tampa Bay’s head coach, Todd Bowles has a 27-24 record in the regular season and a 1-3 record in the postseason. That’s not ideal, but it beats the alternative if you watched Bucs football from 2009-2018 before Bowles arrived in 2019 as Bruce Arians’ defensive coordinator and helped the franchise win its second Super Bowl a year later. During that decade of darkness the Bucs failed to make the playoffs even once and posted a 55-105 record.

It’s also a fact that Bowles has won three straight division titles – a feat that no other Bucs head coach has accomplished – and has done so in his first three years as a head coach. And Bowles’ three division titles tie Jon Gruden (2002, 2005, 2007) for the most ever by a coach in Bucs history. Tampa Bay likely enters the 2025 season as the NFC South favorite once again.

With four more wins Bowles will surpass Arians (31-18) for the fourth-most wins in franchise history, trailing only Gruden (57-55), Tony Dungy (54-42) and John McKay (44-88-1). With two good seasons in 2025 and 2026 Bowles could move past McKay and into third place in Tampa Bay history.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bowles has also progressed from eight wins in a tumultuous final season with Tom Brady in 2022 to nine wins with a very young, turned-over roster in 2023 to 10 wins in the regular season last year. Yes, last year’s close home playoff loss to Washington was very disappointing, but it seems to have fueled not only his team this offseason, but also Bowles himself. He’s made several changes this offseason to his coaching staff, to bringing in Zach Beistline to serve as his game manager, to being a little more outspoken and pointed in his critiques of his players in the media to motivate them, which is a page out of the Arians playbook.

This does feel like a “no excuses” type of season is on the horizon, but it’s not one that is “make-or-break” for Bowles, who is as far removed from the hot seat as he’s ever been. The organization has full and complete confidence in him entering 2025, and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for being an old dog who is indeed learning some new tricks at age 61.

While it’s not “Super Bowl or bust” this year in Tampa Bay, the expectations are that the Bucs win a fourth straight division title under Bowles this year and make the playoffs for a sixth straight season and contend for a Super Bowl. I think that’s doable with this talented and experienced roster, and the incredible culture that Bowles and general manager Jason Licht have helped build in Tampa Bay. Ten wins feels like the floor for this team, and who knows how high the ceiling is?

If the Bucs don’t make it to the Super Bowl this year that should not be viewed as an ultimately failed season. It is incredibly difficult to even get to the Super Bowl, as some mega-talented teams like Detroit, Buffalo and Baltimore have found out in recent years. But Tampa Bay certainly has the potential to get there thanks to Bowles, the coaches, the front office, and of course the talented players. We’ll see what happens.

QUESTION: Gut feeling – is Chris Godwin out there Week 1?

ANSWER: Hmm. Good question, and I’m not sure what the correct answer in regards to Chris Godwin’s status for Week 1. What’s troubling to me is that nobody knows what the real answer is – not head coach Todd Bowles, not general manager Jason Licht, not Bucs VP of sports medicine and performance Bobby Slater and not even Godwin himself.

We are still over three months away from the 2025 season kicking off in Atlanta on September 7. OTAs have just begun and the mandatory mini-camp is still two weeks away. The start of training camp is two months away. There is still a lot of time for Godwin to continue to make progress, but I’m not privy to how far along he is at this point as May draws to a conclusion.

Is Godwin able to jog or sprint at full speed? Can he cut on his surgically-repaired ankle? I just don’t know at this point.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What I do know is that the Bucs want Godwin to come back when he’s as close to 100% as possible. That may not be the version of Godwin we saw last year, who was off to a hot start and among the league’s leading receivers when he suffered his season-ending ankle injury in Week 7. It may be a watered-down version of Godwin similar to what we saw in 2022 when he came back from his ACL injury in December of 2021. It took him all of that season to round back into his usual form.

My gut tells me Godwin could be out there in Week 1 against the Falcons because I’m not going to bet against him and how he attacks rehab. But I wouldn’t place a bet on it given how cautious Licht has been in his recent remarks about Godwin’s recovery. Remember, Godwin is now 29 and his body has had plenty of wear and tear on it. There are a lot of miles on the tires of the second-best receiver in Bucs history. The last time Godwin was recovering from a significant injury he was 26.

Helping the Bucs is the fact that the team drafted wide receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round. That takes some of the pressure off Godwin having to be on the field in Week 1 to give the team the best chance of winning in Atlanta. Egbuka’s arrival is a bit of a safety net – an insurance policy of sorts. We’ll have a better idea about Godwin’s progress at the mini-camp and a much better idea of his recovery timetable at the start of training camp in late July.

QUESTION: Now that the dust has settled do you anticipate any contract extensions before preseason?

ANSWER: Yes, I do expect at least one contract extension to happen this offseason, and potentially up to three. There are three starters who are entering contract years in 2025: right tackle Luke Goedeke, cornerback Zyon McCollum and tight end Cade Otton. Goedeke has developed into a Pro Bowl-caliber right tackle and deserves to be paid like one.

The guess here is that the Bucs try to lock up Goedeke first this offseason. And if they can do it before he has a possible Pro Bowl season in 2025 he could come slightly cheaper. Regardless, Goedeke stands to make at least $20 million per year, which would put him on par with Kansas City’s Jawaan Taylor, who is the third-highest paid right tackle in the league. Goedeke is not as accomplished as Detroit’s All-Pro Penei Sewell, who makes $28 million per year, nor Philadelphia’s six-time Pro Bowler Lane Johnson, who makes $25 million per year.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The cornerback market has exploded and Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr. is the league’s first $30 million per year cornerback. Carolina’s Jaycee Horn is next at $25 million per year, followed by Miami’s Jalen Ramsey at $24.1 million per year. Stingley and Horn made their first Pro Bowls last year and cashed in. Talk about perfect timing.

McCollum has Pro Bowl potential and could fetch a deal in the $25 million per year range with a big season, especially with the cornerback market rising quickly. Assistant general manager Mike Greenberg would be wise to see if he could get ahead of the market by seeing if he could get McCollum to extend at around $20 million per year this offseason, which would put him in the top seven at the position around Atlanta’s A.J. Terrell ($20.25 million) and Cleveland’s Denzel Ward ($20.1 million).

Otton has developed into one of the league’s most complete tight ends, showing vast improvement as a receiver and a blocker last year. On the open market Otton could draw a contract worth $12 million per year, which would put him in the class of Houston’s Dalton Schultz ($12 million), Pittsburgh’s Pat Freiermuth ($12.1 million) and Chicago’s Cole Kmet ($12.5 million). So pay him that now before the tight end market inches up next year with the salary cap increase. Otton is not a Rob Gronkowski-type tight end, but he’s a Cameron Brate-type and that’s good enough to win with.

QUESTION: Looks like another easy schedule after the bye week. What do the Bucs need to do differently this season to not have a repeat of the last two years where they must win all of those games to make the playoffs?

ANSWER: First, let’s take a look at Tampa Bay’s schedule after the bye in Week 9 and see if it’s as easy as you suggest. I’ll include last year’s record for each Bucs opponent, but realize that there are teams that have unexpected breakout seasons like Washington (12-5) last year, and there are teams that suddenly underwhelm and underperform like San Francisco (6-11) did in 2024.

WEEK 10 – vs. New England (4-13) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 11 – at Buffalo (13-4) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 12 – at LA Rams (10-7) – 8:20 pm ET
WEEK 13 – vs. Arizona (8-9) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 14 – vs. New Orleans (5-12) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 15 – vs. Atlanta (8-9) – 8:15 pm ET
WEEK 16 – at Carolina (5-12) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 17 – at Miami (8-9) – 1:00 pm ET
WEEK 18 – vs. Carolina (5-12) – TBD

After the bye, the Bucs only face two teams that had a winning record last year. And out of the nine games after the bye, only two are in primetime. All of the others are currently at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is a time slot the Bucs typically perform best at. Perhaps most importantly, five of the nine games are at Raymond James Stadium. I wouldn’t say this is necessarily an easy schedule after the bye, but it does seem favorable down the stretch.

The biggest thing for the Bucs is to avoid a third-straight midseason slump. The Bucs have seen a hot start evaporate to a 4-6 record in each of the past two seasons with four-game losing streaks. The key is not to dig a big hole in the first place. Of course injuries have played a part in those losing streaks, and that’s something that is incredibly hard to prevent in a collision sport like football.

The Bucs are emphasizing more communication this offseason and the players are taking it upon themselves to grow even closer as a team off the field, which will only help and not hurt come gameday. Yet there is no magic formula to winning, as even the most prepared teams, the most talented teams, and the most closely-knit teams can lose on any given Sunday.

Football is a win-or-lose proposition with the occasional, rare tie. The Bucs simply need to find a way to win close games, as their average margin of defeat during last year’s four-game losing streak was only six points. And avoid losing streaks altogether.

QUESTION: Is Tez Johnson a lock to win the punt return job? Trey Palmer didn’t really impress in that area last year.

ANSWER: If you ask Tez Johnson, the punt return duties in Tampa Bay are already his. He’s already staked a claim at that position in his press conferences with the media, and you have to admire the confidence that the rookie has to make that claim even before his first OTA as a Buccaneer.

Johnson has a make-you-miss quality that former Bucs legend Karl Williams possessed in allowing him to record five punt return touchdowns during his career (1996-2004), which is the most in franchise history. He averaged over 10 yards per punt return at Oregon, including an 85-yard touchdown, and returned punts all through his college career, which started at Troy. Johnson has a dynamic quality about him and seems like an absolute steal in the seventh round.

Bucs WR Tez Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The feeling here is that Johnson makes the team as the fifth receiver on the depth chart behind Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan largely because I think he’ll win the punt return duties. Not only will Johnson have to battle Trey Palmer, who is coming off a disappointing season as a receiver and a punt returner last year, due to his 8.8-yard average, but also Kam Johnson as well.

The Bucs could keep six receivers on the active roster, so there is a chance that Palmer and Tez Johnson both make the 53-man roster. But the arrow is pointing up for Johnson, who looked quite good in rookie mini-camp, and pointing down for Palmer, who will the training camp and preseason of his life to stick around in Tampa Bay this year or make an NFL roster elsewhere.