Bucs Briefing rolls on with our in-depth look at the 2019 tape of each key member of the Bucs 2020 roster, turning the page to the team’s top three targets Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Rob Gronkowski – three legitimate stars that should anchor Tampa’s offense alongside Tom Brady in 2020.

I was thrilled to be joined by the great Greg Cosell, ESPN’s NFL Matchup executive producer and analyst, and long-time NFL Films senior producer. I’ve only been in this industry seven years, but Cosell is as gracious with his time as he is knowledgeable about the game. His insight into the Bucs’ offensive scheme, Bruce Arians’ preferences and the individual skill sets of Godwin, Evans and Gronkowski is truly second to none.

WR Chris Godwin – 6-1, 209 – 24 years old – 4th season

A third round pick out of Penn State, Godwin combined two strong seasons with the Nittany Lions and a shockingly good NFL Scouting Combine performance to elevate himself into the top 100 picks by draft weekend.

Godwin’s calling card in college was his ball skills, snatching an insane amount of contested passes and highlight reel grabs. Not many expected the 4.42 speed that Godwin showed at the Combine, but his NFL tape has only confirmed that Godwin plays plenty fast enough to succeed in the NFL. Still, any breakdown of Godwin’s game begins with those ball skills, so it is not surprising that was the trait (amongst many) that stood out to Cosell when he studied the fourth-year receiver.

“Size is number one,” Cosell said. “He’s a big man. That helps a lot obviously. He’s competitive attacking the ball in the air. He does not let the ball get into his body. I can see it in my mind from watching him earlier this week, there are a number of seam throws that are tough throws for quarterback because they are kind of firm touch throws. It’s actually a throw Jameis can make very well, where you throw it over an underneath defender and just in front of a safety and you pretty much know that you’re gonna be tackled when you catch the ball.

“Now, obviously they (safeties) can’t lay those hits like they used to do 20 years ago, but you know you’re going to be tackled. Godwin would go up and attack the ball with his hands in those situations. That’s always important when you’re in the middle of the field, because the guys who let the ball get into their body, that’s a problem. So I thought he used his hands really effectively to attack the ball when he knew he was in traffic, which is almost always the case in the middle of the field.”

Working the middle of the field takes on a lot of different looks against various coverages, but Godwin is one of the best in the league at finding space against zone coverage and attacking the ball as windows close. In the play below, watch how he moves back up through the middle zone defenders to give them a tougher angle to the throwing window, all while attacking the ball in the air.

Featured as the Bucs ‘Z’ or ‘move’ receiver in Bruce Arians’ offense this past season, Godwin often aligned in the slot, but still saw about 38 percent of his snaps come from the outside, per Pro Football Focus. His versatility allowed him to be a feature piece in the Bucs’ offense, culminating in 86 catches for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns, while hauling in an absurd 71 percent of his targets. That’s the fourth-best efficiency mark in the entire league among wide receivers with 50 targets or more, per Pro Football Reference.

“There’s no question Bruce Arians’ has liked big slots,” Cosell said. “Hines Ward comes to mind first. Then obviously he made Larry Fitzgerald a slot and Fitz kinda fought it at first because Fitz had been a Hall of Famer on the outside. So I think the slot receiver role is important to Bruce. Godwin certainly fits that role.

“I watched six games of Godwin’s earlier this week, and I picked games where he had a ton of targets. He works the middle of the field really, really well. The question you have with Godwin being in the slot, is that he was kind of featured a lot as the ‘Z’ receiver this past year. I know he had more slot snaps, but he was kind of the movement or motion receiver in their offense. So normally when you’re in the slot you tend to be more stationary. But there is no question he works between the numbers really, really well.

“They did a bunch of stack stuff and that’s really good for free access into routes. He’s a really good run-after-catch receiver, and I think that’s an important trait for the offense with (Tom) Brady. Because I think you get a lot more quick rhythm, quick game throws with Brady, and Godwin I think fits that really, really well. To me Godwin is just big, fluid, physical, competitive…he’s got good hands and he’s fearless in the middle of the field. I think that’s where he does his best work.”

Brady made a living in New England while dominating the middle of the field as a passer, helping to make players like Julian Edelman, Wes Welker and, of course, Rob Gronkowski into household names due to their connection from mostly inside the numbers. Few would compare Godwin to Edelman or Welker as players, but their roles could end up looking pretty similar in Arians’ offense with Brady at the helm.

“I think the roles are probably more similar than people think,” Cosell said. “There’s not a thousand route concepts, as you know. Arians has always been a guy that has been aggressive and wants to be aggressive. Certainly Brady is not Carson Palmer in the kind of deep balls he could throw, but I think what Arians will do with Brady is have more scripted verticals.

“Palmer was one of those big-time quarterbacks in terms of arm talent. Brady can’t throw it quite like that, so you won’t see certain kinds of throws, but I don’t think you’ll see a significant change in the way Bruce plays his slots. Now, when you get a great quarterback like Brady who has had success, obviously you mix and match. I think you’ll see some things that Brady is really comfortable with that maybe are not at the top of Bruce’s playbook, but I think they’ll be there.

“You’ll see a lot of those bang play-action plays. Those are Gronk plays, but Godwin can do that too. Where it’s almost like that three-step, quick-game play action, and you can do it off a zone look or a power look. That’s what the Patriots did a lot with Gronk on crossers and quick seams. I think you can hit Godwin on quick, in-breaking routes depending on where he lines up. He doesn’t have to be in the slot for that, you could certainly put him in Zin motion if he’s your ‘Z’. I think those kinds of things will become part of the Bucs passing game because Brady is very comfortable with that and he’s good at that.”

Godwin has also grown considerably as a route runner, thanks to his football IQ and attention to detail. Watch how he sells this route inside at the top of the pattern before crisply breaking to the sideline and making a terrific extended catch. Godwin is the outside receiver off the line of scrimmage in a stacked release here, similar to what Greg was referring to above.

With Godwin thriving so often as that move receiver, could he be headed for more outside reps in 2020, even if they come from a lot of stacked releases? More than likely his role will remain a versatile one, and could be determined to an extent by who wins the No. 3 receiver job and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

“The big question is what Bruce is going to do,” Cosell said. “Right now they really don’t have another outside receiver. Tyler Johnson, the Minnesota kid, I really liked his college tape, but I thought he was about as pure a slot as there really is. I don’t see Tyler Johnson playing on the outside in the NFL. I like the player a lot, but I don’t think he’s an individual, isolation route runner in the NFL.

“So I’m wondering if Godwin, as good as he is inside, becomes the ‘Z’. That movement, motion receiver, which is often what the ‘Z’ is because he’s off the ball. He was already used a lot in Zin motion, at times he even crossed the formation. He certainly ran multiple routes off of that last season, including out-cuts, Bang 8s…you can do a lot of things off of Zin motion where you still work the middle of the field with rhythm and timing. To me, Tyler Johnson is a slot guy, so I’m just wondering if Godwin becomes even more of the ‘Z’, because clearly (Mike) Evans is the ‘X’ receiver.”

It’ll be fascinating to see how all of this talent is utilized in Tampa Bay, as Greg and I bemoaned the lack of late-May clarity we currently have due to the absence of mini-camp practices. It could be accurate to describe Godwin as the focal point of the Bucs offensive attack, not necessarily because he’s the best player (although he may be), but because the rest of the offense can be built around what Godwin is capable of doing on a given play. That versatility isn’t easily replaced, and I expect Godwin to gel quickly with a quarterback who has valued his type of skill set throughout a 20-year career.

“Godwin is a big slot, but he’s also kind of a quintessential ‘Z’ as well,” Cosell said. “There are probably some who see him as an ‘X’ down the road, depending on how his career unfolds. He certainly has the size, he can win off the ball and he’s got some juice to him. So he could theoretically be an ‘X’ down the road.”