The Tampa Bay Buccaneers put their trust in Chris Godwin this offseason when they re-signed him to a three-year, $66 million deal despite a brutal injury he suffered in 2024. But how close is he to hitting the field again?
Godwin suffered a dislocated ankle against the Baltimore Ravens last year, putting him out for the season. He hit free agency and then signed back with the Bucs, but Tampa Bay appeared to be planning for the future and hedging its bets by drafting wide receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Egbuka has been hard at work across rookie minicamp, OTAs and now mandatory minicamp, but Godwin has continued to rehabilitate himself from his injury as training camp approaches.
The Buccaneers spoke to the media after Day 1 of mandatory mincamp, and head coach Todd Bowles had an update on Godwin — who was not participating and only appeared on the sidelines toward the end of practice.
“He’s rehabbing inside right now – doing everything inside,” Bowles said. “When the trainers tell me he’s ready to go outside, we’ll take a look at him outside.”
The Buccaneers have previously mentioned that having Chris Godwin ready for Week 1 has been a goal, and it will be interesting to see if Godwin can make it happen. Training camp could be a big revealer — should Godwin continue his rehab during training camp and fail to make an appearance there, his Week 1 status would be in doubt. If that’s the case, Egbuka can play a similar archetype and fit right in with the offense.
The Bucs believe in Godwin, however, and it seems as if they’re perfectly fine with waiting for him to be 100% healthy. Godwin will continue rehabbing at One Buccaneer Place until then while Egbuka gets valuable reps in Josh Grizzard’s offense.
