Managing your family’s wealth means more to Amuni Financial than simply allocating your assets. It means legacy planning, brokerage & advisory services, retirement accounts, college savings accounts and insurance services. With 40 years of experience, let Amuni Financial help you plan ahead and stay ahead.

Call Amuni Financial at (800) 868-6864 or visit Amuni.com.

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

QUESTION: This offseason, the number one priority has to be re-signing Chris Godwin. That being said, what’s a good number the Bucs would be comfortable with to bring him back?

ANSWER: Before we talk about Chris Godwin, let’s first discuss his teammate, Mike Evans. He’s the 10th highest-paid wide receiver in the league right now, averaging $16.5 million per season. Evans is also the greatest offensive weapon in franchise history, holds all the team’s receiver records, is a three-time Pro Bowler and a team captain. Would the Bucs want to have Godwin make more than Evans? How would that sit with Evans?

I don’t think it would be an issue because Evans is unselfish, but I do think that Tampa Bay would still like to see Evans make more than Godwin because of his consistency. He’s had seven straight 1,000-yard seasons and is on his way to an eighth. A perfect fit for Bruce Arians’ offense as the slot receiver, Godwin is on his way to his second 1,000-yard season in four years in Tampa Bay.

Bucs WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The league’s highest-paid receiver is Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins, who earns an average of $27.25 million per year. Godwin is playing this year on the franchise tag and making $15.93 million in 2021. So far he’s having a career year, especially on the heels of his franchise-record 15 catches for 143 yards in Tampa Bay’s 30-17 win in Atlanta.

Godwin has 82 catches for 949 yards and five touchdowns in addition to a rushing TD with five games left. He’s is averaging 6.8 catches for 79 yards per game. That puts him on pace for 115 receptions for 1,344 yards and seven TDs. Godwin’s career season came in 2019 when he caught 86 passes for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns.

I think the Bucs would prefer to pay Godwin somewhere between $16 million to $16.45 million per season and keep him as the second highest-paid receiver on the team behind Evans ideally. The exploding wide receiver market in free agency would suggest Godwin could make more than that elsewhere. So Tampa Bay might have to pay Godwin more to keep him if he doesn’t give the team a hometown discount. One thing is for sure, Godwin certainly has lived up to his franchise player status so far this year.

QUESTION: Do you think the Bucs are looking at their strength and conditioning program? So many injuries this year.

ANSWER: Let’s look at the major injuries that have occurred. First there was cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting’s dislocated elbow against Dallas in Week 1, in addition to outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul’s torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. Those are freak injuries that just happen sometimes. Nothing a strength and conditioning program can do to prevent those joint injuries.

In Week 3, tight end Rob Gronkowski breaks his ribs getting hit hard and driven into the turf in Los Angeles. There is nothing the strength and conditioning staff can do to safeguard against that. Cornerback Jamel Dean suffered a knee injury, but came back in two weeks. In Week 4, cornerback Carlton Davis III suffered a quad injury. Perhaps he overtrained, or the muscle just gave out due to fatigue.

In Week 6, cornerback Richard Sherman suffered a hamstring injury and missed several weeks. Yet Sherman is 33 years old and hadn’t attended one NFL OTA or training camp day to get in proper shape for the 2021 regular season. He practiced for three days and then started at New England. Then he wound up starting three games in 12 days and his hamstring just gave out.

Safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. and cornerback Dee Delaney suffered concussions in the first half of the season and missed some time, while Dean suffered a bruised shoulder while making a tackle at Indianapolis. Those are the biggest injuries this year, and while there has been a rash of them, it has been different body parts for different players at different ages – with Sherman and the 31-year old Pierre-Paul being close to the end of their respective careers.

This isn’t like the hamstring injuries at the end of the 2019 that caused Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Scotty Miller to all wind up on injured reserve in December. That prompted the Bucs to change the way they practice. Tampa Bay might have the best sports science department in the NFL, aiding the strength and conditioning staff. While injuries have rocked the secondary this year, especially at cornerback, most of them have been fluky and there is no common dominator.

QUESTION: When is Byron Leftwich going to get more creative with all the offensive weapons the team has?

ANSWER: As Pewter Report’s Jon Ledyard has said, the Bucs don’t rely so much on scheme to get players open. They rely on skill. Most of the time offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich counts on his weapons to win their individual one-on-one battles either in man coverage or finding holes in zone coverage. Choice routes – or option routes – against zone coverage help the Bucs receivers, backs and tight ends accomplish that.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and OC Byron Leftwich – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

We’ve seen Leftwich show some creativity. I thought the Bucs’ opening touchdown drive against the Giants on Monday night was one of the best offensive drives I’ve ever seen in my 26 years of covering this team. That drive had three play-action passes, including a touchdown to Chris Godwin on a rare play-action screen, back-to-back end-arounds and some up-tempo. The issue I have is that we don’t see enough creativity often enough.

It’s hard to nit-pick what the Bucs are doing offensively. Through 12 games, Tampa Bay is leading the NFL with 31.4 points per game, and is the only team averaging over 30 points per game right now. What’s even better is that the Bucs have scored 30 points in back-to-back road games and are getting back to last year’s routine. That’s a very good sign as this 9-3 team inches towards the playoffs.

QUESTION: The secondary hasn’t been healthy all year. Do you think Tampa Bay gets healthy for the postseason run (barring any further injuries)?

ANSWER: The Bucs were so close to having their entire secondary intact for the Falcons game on Sunday – until safety Jordan Whitehead’s calf injury. The original Grave Diggers secondary hasn’t played together since the first half of Week 1. If Whitehead’s calf injury isn’t too severe, there is a chance that all of the DBs can see playing time together again in a few weeks.

Bucs SS Jordan Whitehead – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Wide receiver Antonio Brown should return from his heel injury – and his suspension – in Week 16. When he and Whitehead return, the Bucs should be back to full strength. The key for Tampa Bay will be staying healthy down the stretch to the postseason.

But keep in mind, the Bucs weathered the postseason without linebacker Devin White and running back Ronald Jones II in Washington, and without right guard Alex Cappa in New Orleans, Green Bay and against Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. Tampa Bay also won without Brown and Winfield for the whole game in Green Bay, and in the second half without Whitehead. Thanks to the moves by general manager Jason Licht and his front office, the Bucs are deep enough to weather some injuries in December and January, should they occur.