NFL free agency is less than a month away, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have some decisions to make before it arrives. Chris Godwin is without a doubt the biggest upcoming free agent the Bucs have, and he’s already topping lists of players teams will likely target if given the chance.

Tampa Bay cannot give them that chance.

Godwin is set to be a free agent when the new league year begins but he’s not out the door yet. In fact, the Bucs have a few different options in making sure he sticks around with the franchise tag being an break in case of emergency lever the team can pull if worse comes to worse.

Tampa Bay can also sign Godwin to an extension before the tampering period begins next month, which would be the optimal outcome. Basically, there’s no way the Bucs can let Godwin hit the market because if they do then bringing him back is going to get a lot harder than it needs to be.

Jaguars named a potential landing spot for Chris Godwin in free agency

ESPN broke down a giant offseason wishlist for teams an upcoming free agents which naturally meant Chris Godwin got mentioned. Eric Moody went a step further and connected him to a potential new team, one that is nails on the chalkboard for Buccaneers fans.

Moody said what most of us have been thinking and mentioned the Jacksonville Jaguars as a suitor this offseason.

“The breakout of wide receiver Jalen McMillan and tight end Cade Otton makes Godwin expendable if the Buccaneers want to improve other areas of the team, especially given his injury history,” Moody writes. “I could see Godwin joining his former offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, and playing alongside Brian Thomas Jr.,” Moody wrote.

This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, as the Jaguars are among two teams that make sense as potential suitors for Godwin in free agency. Truthfully, every team in the league should have him high on their list as there are few recievers more capable of being a game-changing threat on offense than Godwin.

What Jacksonville and Las Vegas have over the rest are connections to Godwin’s past. John Spytek helped bring Godwin to Tampa Bay in the draft and Liam Coen had the reciever on track for a career year had a season-ending injury not gotten in the way.

The Jaguars have already poached talent from the Bucs and made an attempt to double dip after trying to lure Mike Greenberg away to join forces with Coen. Jacksonville was rebuffed, but making a run at Godwin has always seemed like something that they’d try to do.

It’s a big reason why the Bucs should do what they did last year with Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans and ensure Godwin doesn’t reach the open market. All signs point toward the team doing excactly that, as it was reported last week that Tampa Bay is preparing to do everything in its power to re-sign Godwin this offseason.

A big way to avoid any unnecessary drama with the Jaguars — again — would be to give Godwin an extension before the tampering period opens in March. This is what the Bucs did with Mayfield and Evans, and Godwin firmly fits into the same category of player the team should try to take care of.

That’s always seemed like the most logical outcome, as Godwin getting carted off the field can’t be the last image we see of him in a Buccaneers’ uniform. As strange as it sounds, that injury was the first time it truly seemed like Tampa Bay would end up keeping Godwin, but not for the nefarious reasons other teams might try to exploit.

Rather than use his injury against him and try to lower the price, Tampa Bay would be wise to meet Godwin in the middle and make sure he still gets a big payday without breaking the bank. Four players — Evans, Mayfield, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Tristan Wirfs — were treated to deals like this last year and the mutual respect between Godwin and the Bucs feels a lot like what helped get those contracts done.

By all accounts, Godwin loves being in Tampa Bay and the Bucs love having him. A lot can happen, but all of the noise about potential destinations for Godwin only makes the idea of him landing back in Tampa Bay feel even more likely than it already does.