Godwin is a great Buccaneer on the field, in the locker room and off the field. But this is about cap numbers this offseason, and trading Godwin makes sense perhaps more than any other player for the following reasons:
1) He's making $20 million salary this year and next, in addition to the $15 mil bonus still owed. No amount of restructuring changes the fact that he's getting paid a ton of money. So, we'd only save $5 mil off the cap this year. But in 2024, if you take into account salary and cleared out bonus, that's about $31 mil cap relief for 2024 and beyond. So taking the $50 mil of dead contracts and $31 mil of Godwin's cap hit. So basically, the Bucs are out of cap hell in 2024, which they need to be to get Wirfs signed. Godwin is the highest paid player still on the team this year, and he will be next year as well as it stands now.
2) Godwin is not overpaid, in fact his contract is pretty reasonable, and so the Bucs should be able to score a draft pick, late first early 2nd, which they could use for a WR. I think a contending team would be willing to fork over a late first rounder for Godwin if they need WR help. That late first or 2nd round pick could be used to pick up another top WR who will play under a rookie contract. Will that rookie be as good as Godwin? Not likely, but they should be one of the better WRs in the draft.
3) Godwin is under contract through 2024, which will force the Bucs to franchise tag him, sign him to another deal or let him walk. There are some hard choices that need to be made. Trading Godwin would be one of them for sure, but it would perhaps lessen the need for some other hard choices. Pushing money around by restructuring Godwin is like taking a rag and trying to clean off a muddy windshield. You mostly just smear it around. If the Bucs trade Godwin, they might be able to find a way to keep Lavonte David. Otherwise - not a chance. Those are the kind of hard choices the Bucs are facing.
Prepare for Godwin trade rumors to start swirling, and don't be shocked if he gets traded.
Isn't Lavonte David one of our best players? What's a better choice? Godwin or David and a high draft pick? If you think both are possible, I'd say you are fooling yourself.No. Why are people looking to trade away our best players? Hell no.
This is one of those tough decisions. Draft picks can definitely speed up the re-boot.
As a fan, I’m not into this idea. I love Godwin for everything he does.
@buccaneerNW, I wasn't suggesting trading Evans. Even if you did, it would only make the cap situation worse. Lavonte David is a free agent and can't be traded. I didn't say "trade fan favorites such as Godwin or others". I'm not saying strip it down and tank for QB X. I'm saying - Trade Chris Godwin.
Everybody knows something has something has to give this offseason. Renegotiating contracts isn't going to do it. Sorry for being the bearer of bad news. But when you pull your head out of the sand when training camp rolls around, don't expect to see Lavonte David there.
I'm not a number cruncher, but if you trade Godwin then there might be a glimmer of hope for signing David. And if the Bucs are smart that's how they'll frame it to the public.
Renegotiating contracts = putting the team over the cap in later years. The Bucs went way over the cap in an effort to win another SB. Didn't work out. Time to pay the piper.
Not likely to happen.
Teams rarely wholesale clean house because they need fans to buy tickets, tv etc. AND because its not exactly fair to the HC to give up all his talent for $. They will rework his deal
(agree cap is really bad so if they were ever going to dump/trade key players it would be now)
Godwin for a late 1st? Sadly, I would agree to it.
Then trade White for... whatever... call it a 3rd rd pick.
See if David will take a team friendly longer contract (4 years maybe even tho we know he has 2 years tops).
Acquiring draft capital is how you rebuild rapidly...
I love Godwin but trading him for a 1st rd pick is a no brainer.
And he will be much better next year with ACL fully healed. Teams know this...
If we keep him, I'm fine with that too. I'm starting to think Baker with our wr talent may surprise some people
Godwin is too valuable in an offense that will feature more 2 WR sets and requires the WR to be capable of run blocking. Godwin will not do as much work in the slot anymore but he and Evans are too valuable as they will be needed to break 8 man boxes when teams load up to stop the run.
Godwin is one of my favorite Bucs players, so I'm not at all partial to trading him. There are numerous other players who offer considerably less value to the team who should be traded or released.
If there's a GM dumb enough to trade a 1st for Godwin, you take it in a heartbeat.
Call me crazy, but I think Godwin is our best player with Wirfs right there with him. This two should be foundational pieces not trade bait.
Call me crazy, but I think Godwin is our best player with Wirfs right there with him. This two should be foundational pieces not trade bait.
I agree.
Since there are a lot of comparisons of where the Bucs are at with where Seattle was a year ago the SEA decided to keep Metcalf even though they traded away RW. Keeping Godwin ensures either Trask or a drafted QB has a shot of developing especially with Evans lined up on the other side.
Godwin is one of my favorite Bucs players, so I'm not at all partial to trading him. There are numerous other players who offer considerably less value to the team who should be traded or released.
IF there are other ways of solving the Bucs cap problem without pushing it into 2024, I'm all in favor o If they can solve their cap problems without losing the fan favorites then I'm all in favor of that. Why wouldn't I be? I don't think it's going to be that easy, but I'll be glad to be wrong about that. We'll see what kind of solutions they come up with.
You're right, it won't be easy. It will be interesting to see how the FO gets out of this cap jam.