The wide receiver is electing to stay in Tampa Bay.
The New England Patriots headed into free agency week with a clear goal in mind: improve the supporting cast around starting quarterback Drake Maye. Less than half an hour into the NFL’s legal tampering period, however, one of their top targets already came off the board.
Chris Godwin, arguably the premier wide receiver on the market, decided to re-sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a reported three-year, $66 million contract.
The Patriots, whose roughly $130 million in salary cap space leads the league by a significant margin, would have been able to offer Godwin a superior deal. And the signs are pointing toward them indeed having done so.
Ian Rapoport mentioned on NFL Network that the Bucs wideout left over $20 million in real cash on the table, and that the Patriots were one of the teams interested. According to a report by Benjamin Allbright of KOA Colorado, the 29-year-old “turned down way more from New England to stay in Tampa.”
What exactly the Patriots offered Godwin relative to the Buccaneers is not known, but it seems that their offer was at least financially competitive. And yet, he is staying put while the team of head coach Mike Vrabel and quasi-general manager Eliot Wolf will have to pivot once again.
It is something they have gotten used to after already missing out on their top offensive tackle target, the Baltimore Ravens’ Ronnie Stanley, over the weekend.
“You can’t just say, ‘Give me one, we’re going to get this guy’ because you’re not going to bat 1,000. Everybody else is trying to go for the same player.” Vrabel explained at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis last month.
“Having a really detailed plan and approach is probably the only thing that I would make sure that we are doing, which I believe we are. And then being able to quickly pivot on to the next option and understand where that line is.”
For a franchise still in full-on rebuild mode, that flexibility is becoming an important if somewhat worrying trait these days.