The Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be a better team with veteran wide receiver Chris Godwin on the roster in 2025. There is no disputing that.

Thanks to Godwin’s own reputation and a market that seems to only heap more and more value on his position, the odds of that happening only seem to get worse by the day.

With the NFL season just coming to an end, a flood of new free agent rankings and speculation is hitting the airwaves and each new list has Godwin among the most prized free agents in the NFL.

Godwin was playing some of the best football of his career when he suffered a season-ending dislocated ankle in Week 2 and is a plug-and-play WR1 or WR2 option for a contender — he’s also seen his market value leap up to a 3-year, $67.5 million contract in Spotrac’s latest market value projections.

“Godwin was on pace for another Godwin-like campaign in 2024 before an ankle injury derailed his season,” Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti wrote on February 11. “Teams will have some pause when assessing the 28-year-old coming back from his second major injury, but a weak WR market will help sustain his ability to cash in.”